- Two sub-committees to make the Revenue Administration Management Information System (RAMIS) efficient
On Tuesday (Jan. 24), the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) met in Parliament under the chairmanship of Member of Parliament Hon. Kabir Hashim to review several new proposals to make the work of the Inland Revenue Department more efficient.
These proposals were proposed for the proper implementation of the Revenue Administration Management Information System (RAMIS), a major computer system established for tax revenue collection in the Inland Revenue Department.
The COPA noted that in 2014, the Inland Revenue Department under the Ministry of Finance had invested roughly 10 billion rupees in RAMIS to improve the efficiency of its tax revenue collection, however, information had been received that the system was not working correctly.
Furthermore,
- The Chairman believes more money has been spent to strengthen the system and it is necessary to find out whether spending money further for this purpose is effective
- Auditor General does not have information about the service agreement and payment details related to the system
- Inland Revenue Department refuses to provide particular information according to the agreement, which is against the constitution
- Need to update system with new Inland Revenue Act brought in 2017
- Issues in many aspects of the RAMIS system, including procurement
- COPA proposed to form two sub-committees to investigate possibility of bringing system to operational level
- Committee to be established jointly by A-G Department, under leadership of Ministry of Finance to examine legal conditions related to RAMIS Agreement
- Committee to be established jointly with UoM, ICTA, IRD, and Ministry of Finance to look into possibility of updating software system
- Reports containing conclusions to be submitted to COPA within 6 weeks
State Minister Hon. Prasanna Ranaweera, Members of Parliament Hon. (Dr.) Sarath Weerasekera, Hon. (Dr.) Sudarshanee Fernandopulle, Hon. J.C. Alavathuwala, Hon. Vadivel Suresh, Hon. D. Weerasinghe, Hon. Sahan Pradeep Withana, Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya and group of officials representing related institutions also participated.
