Sri Lanka Cheque Bounce Penalty Calculator — Dishonoured Cheque Fine and Deadlines

Until 2025 a bounced cheque in Sri Lanka was purely a civil matter. That changed on 2025-08-15, when the Bills of Exchange (Amendment) Act, No. 13 of 2025 was certified: section 16 inserted six new sections — 82A to 82F — into the Bills of Exchange Ordinance (Chapter 82), and section 82A(1) made the drawer criminally liable.

The penalty is a fine equivalent to the amount of the cheque, or imprisonment of either description for up to 2 years, or both. There is no scale and no multiplier: the ceiling simply tracks the face value, which is why the calculator returns your cheque amount as the maximum. The court fixes the actual figure below it.

The four grounds

Section 82A(1) is engaged only where the bank returned the cheque because (a) the account had insufficient funds, (b) the cheque exceeded the amount arranged to be paid from the account, (c) the account was closed, or (d) the drawer countermanded it without a legitimate reason. A signature mismatch, a words-and-figures discrepancy or a stale cheque is outside the offence. Section 82A(3) helps the payee here: where the bank writes “refer to drawer”, “account closed” or “payment countermanded by drawer”, insufficiency of funds is presumed.

The three cumulative conditions

Section 82A(2) imposes three conditions that must all hold. First, the cheque must have been presented to the drawee bank within 6months of the date drawn, or within its validity period, whichever is earlier — so a leaf marked “valid for 3 months” shortens the window. Second, the payee or holder in due course must make a written demand on the drawer within 90days of the bank’s return information. Third, the drawer must fail to pay within 90 days of that demand.

Section 82B then allows just 30 days from the expiry of that third period to institute proceedings. Chained together, the outer limit is 90 + 90 + 30 = 210 days from the bounce notice. The calculator computes both the step-by-step chain from your actual demand date and that 210-day aggregate, and checks the first never falls outside the second — the arithmetic cross-check shown under the timeline.

Venue, evidence and the civil track

Section 82C vests jurisdiction in the Magistrate’s Court for the area of the collecting branch where you banked the cheque, or of the drawee branch if you presented it directly. Section 82D makes the return notification, the acknowledged deposit slip, or the returned cheque conclusive evidence of dishonour, and section 82E presumes the cheque discharged a debt. Section 82F reaches directors, managers, secretaries and partners of a convicted body, subject to a due-diligence defence.

The civil claim runs alongside, unaffected by a missed criminal deadline. The calculator estimates it as the cheque plus simple interest from presentment, defaulting to the 12% rate that section 192(1) of the Civil Procedure Code applies where the instrument fixes none. Prescription Ordinance s.6 gives 6 years to sue, and claims below Rs 1,000,000 need a Mediation Board certificate of non-settlement first.

Only four of the reasons a Sri Lankan bank prints on a return slip engage the criminal offence. The rest leave you with the civil claim alone.

Source: Bills of Exchange Ordinance s.82A(1)(a)–(d) and s.82A(3), as inserted by the Bills of Exchange (Amendment) Act, No. 13 of 2025.

• Parliament of Sri Lanka — Bills of Exchange (Amendment) Act, No. 13 of 2025 (full text; s.16 inserts ss.82A–82F)
• Bills of Exchange Ordinance (Chapter 82) — principal enactment
• LawNet — Civil Procedure Code (Chapter 101), s.192(1) legal interest on a money decree
• Sivapalanathan v. Rajgopal [2005] 1 Sri L.R. 62 — six-year prescription on a cheque
• Mediation Boards Commission — compulsory reference of civil disputes below Rs 1,000,000

Every period and penalty above was read from the certified text of the Act, not from secondary commentary, and last cross-checked on 2026-08-13. The page is reviewed whenever the Bills of Exchange Ordinance is amended. This is general information about the law, not legal advice on your case — a section 82A prosecution turns on evidence and service, so take the output to an attorney-at-law before you file.