The two liquor companies W.M.Mendis & Co and Randenigala Distilleries which were suspended from production due to nonpayment of excise tax were allowed to resume production soon after the part of the due payment was made, the Department of Excise says.
The Excise Department says that by the afternoon, those companies had paid more than 11 0 Million Rupees, which was part of the outstanding tax amount, and therefore they were allowed to resume alcohol production by yesterday evening. .
The unpaid taxes by these two companies were 116 million rupees.
In November, Mendis & Co. and Randenigala Distilleries Lanka Pvt. were among the five companies whose licenses were suspended by the Excise Department for tax evasion.
The Excise Department said that the licenses of these five liquor manufacturing establishments were suspended due to non-payment of dues and non-renewal of annual licenses.
Minister of State for Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya informed the Parliament yesterday that the five liquor production companies should pay 2,715 million rupees to the government as tax arrears.
The Minister of State further said that the total amount of tax due to the government along with the penalty of three percent due to non-payment of taxes is Rs 6,721 million.
