About This Guide

This site is a plain-English guide to Sri Lanka's Inland Revenue Department (IRD) — what it does, who has to deal with it, and how to use its online services without standing in a queue or paying an agent for something that's free.

Why this guide exists

Tax rules in Sri Lanka changed fast in the last few years. Getting a TIN became compulsory for every adult resident. Then, from 1 November 2026, the TIN certificate itself became compulsory for eight everyday transactions, from opening a bank account to renewing a vehicle licence. The IRD publishes all of this in official notices, but those notices are written in legal language, scattered across PDFs, and hard to follow if you just want to know: do I need a TIN, and how do I get one?

That's the gap this site fills. We take the official rules — the Inland Revenue Act, the amendment acts, and the IRD's own public notices such as SEC/PN/IT/2026/05 — and rewrite them as short, clear steps you can act on. How to register for a TIN online. How to check whether you already have one. What the Rs 1,800,000 personal relief actually means for your salary.

What you'll find here

• A homepage overview of the IRD, the taxes it administers, and the November 2026 TIN certificate rule.
• A step-by-step walkthrough of online TIN registration, including the NIC upload and the mistakes that get applications rejected.
• An explanation of each of the eight transactions that now need a TIN certificate.
• A beginner-friendly explainer on income tax, APIT and the tax year.

How we work

Every figure on this site — the Rs 50,000 penalty, the Rs 1.8 million relief, the 1 November 2026 start date — comes from IRD publications or Sri Lankan law, and we link to the official sources so you can check for yourself. Tax rules change, so before you act on anything important, confirm it on the official website at ird.gov.lk or through the e-services portal.

We are an independent guide. We are not the Inland Revenue Department, and we can't register you, tax you, or see your tax file. For anything official, the department itself is one call away on 1944.