3.5% NBT impacts the ICT industry - FITIS

Colombo (News 1st): The Federation of Information Technology Industry of Sri Lanka (FITIS), have addressed a letter to the Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera, regarding imposing NBT of 3.5% for offshore digital services. The FITIS in their letter says "within 1 month of this proposal both the ICT industry and the country will be affected". They added that the majority of ICT industry consists of SME's who use digital services for the business operation. They allege that 3.5% of NBT would seriously impact their businesses. They urge the Minister of Finance to take the above points into consideration and that the 3.5% Nation Building Tax be removed completely from foreign payments using credit and debit cards, which will be an encouragement towards transforming the economy towards a digital platform.