How much is stamp duty on a credit card in Sri Lanka?

Stamp duty is Rs 25 for every Rs 1,000 — or part of Rs 1,000 — of the amount billed to your credit card. That works out to about 2.5%, but because any part of a Rs 1,000 block is charged in full, small or odd amounts cost slightly more than a flat 2.5%.

Is stamp duty charged on local rupee transactions or only foreign ones?

The Inland Revenue Department schedule makes no local/foreign distinction — the duty applies to any payment demanded from a credit-card holder using the card. So a local Rs 8,450 purchase and a foreign online subscription both attract Rs 25 per Rs 1,000 of the billed rupee amount.

Why is my 2.5% stamp duty sometimes more than 2.5% on my bill?

Because the law charges Rs 25 for every Rs 1,000 “or part thereof.” A Rs 8,450 purchase rounds up to 9 blocks (Rs 9,000 worth), so duty is 9 × Rs 25 = Rs 225 — an effective 2.66%. Only whole multiples of Rs 1,000 land on exactly 2.50%.

Do debit cards attract the same stamp duty as credit cards in Sri Lanka?

No. The IRD stamp-duty item that this tool applies is written for credit cards. Ordinary debit-card purchases are not charged this per-transaction credit-card stamp duty, so this calculator is intentionally credit-card only to avoid giving wrong figures for debit users.

What is the total extra cost of paying for a foreign subscription with a Sri Lankan credit card?

Two charges stack: your bank's foreign-currency markup (typically 2.5–4%, set by the bank) and the government stamp duty of Rs 25 per Rs 1,000 on the billed rupee amount. On a USD 35 charge at Rs 300 with a 3% markup, that's Rs 315 markup + Rs 275 duty = Rs 590, about 5.6% over the interbank value.

Who charges and collects this stamp duty?

Your card issuer (the bank) debits the stamp duty to your statement and remits it to the Inland Revenue Department, usually compounded and paid quarterly under the Stamp Duty (Special Provisions) Act. You will normally see it as a “government tax” or “stamp duty” line on your credit-card statement.

Is the forex markup in this tool an official rate?

No. Only the Rs 25 per Rs 1,000 stamp duty is a statutory IRD figure. The forex markup is your own bank's conversion margin and varies by issuer, so it's a field you enter. Check your card's tariff sheet for the exact percentage; 3% is used as a common default here.

When was this calculator's stamp-duty rate last verified?

The Rs 25 per Rs 1,000 rate and the “or part thereof” rounding were last cross-checked against the IRD stamp-duty page on 2026-07-11. The page is reviewed whenever a new stamp-duty Gazette or Inland Revenue amendment changes the schedule.

Sri Lanka · Finance

Sri Lanka Credit Card Stamp Duty Calculator

See the exact government stamp duty on any Sri Lankan credit-card transaction — Rs 25 for every Rs 1,000or part thereof — and, for foreign online payments, the true landed rupee cost after your bank's forex markup. Free, IRD-based, sources cited.

By Induwara Ashinsana— Executive Director, Ryzera TechnologiesUpdated Jul 11, 2026

Credit card stamp dutyRs 25 per Rs 1,000

IRD rule · cross-checked

Transaction / statement amount (Rs)

The rupee amount billed to your card — a single purchase or the full statement.

Quick presets

Stamp duty payable

Rs 225

9 × Rs 25 blocks

Effective duty rate

2.66%

+Rs 13.75 over flat 2.5%

Rs 1,000 blocks charged

Fractions of a block are billed in full

Total on card

Rs 8,675

Amount billed + stamp duty

Line-item breakdown

Amount billed to card (duty base)	Rs 8,450.00
Stamp duty (9 × Rs 25)	+ Rs 225.00
Grand total charged to card	Rs 8,675.00

Stamp-duty rate (Rs 25 per Rs 1,000or part thereof) is the Inland Revenue Department figure. The forex markup is your bank's own rate, not a government charge — see the sources listed below the calculator.

How it works

Sri Lanka charges stamp duty on credit-card spending under the schedule published by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD). The rule is simple to state but easy to compute wrong: the duty is Rs 25 for every Rs 1,000, or part thereof, of the amount billed to your card. The phrase “or part thereof” is what plain 2.5% calculators miss.

Find the billed rupee amount. For a local purchase that is just the rupee price. For a foreign or online payment it is foreign amount × exchange rate × (1 + markup%), where the markup is your bank's foreign-currency conversion margin (an input, not a government rate).
Count the Rs 1,000 blocks. Divide the billed amount by 1,000 and round up to the next whole number: blocks = ceil(billed ÷ 1,000). Any fraction of a block is charged as a full block — this is the legal “or part thereof.”
Multiply by Rs 25. stamp duty = blocks × Rs 25. Because of the rounding, the effective rate is 2.5% only on exact multiples of Rs 1,000; on every other amount it is a little higher.
For foreign purchases, add the markup on top. The grand total charged to your card is the billed amount plus stamp duty. The tool also shows the total surcharge over the interbank value — markup plus duty combined — so you can see the real cost of paying a foreign bill on a Sri Lankan credit card.

To keep the rounding honest at exact thousand boundaries, the calculator works in integer cents and independently re-derives the block count with a floor-based formula; the two methods must agree before a result is shown. This guards against floating-point errors that would otherwise bill an extra Rs 25 on a clean amount like Rs 10,000.

Worked examples

Small local statement — Rs 8,450

Billed amount: Rs 8,450 (local purchase, no markup)
Blocks: ceil(8,450 ÷ 1,000) = 9
Stamp duty: 9 × Rs 25 = Rs 225
Effective rate: 225 ÷ 8,450 = 2.66%
Naive flat 2.5% would be Rs 211.25 — rounding adds Rs 13.75

Foreign subscription — USD 35 (e.g. ChatGPT Plus + Figma)

Interbank: 35 × Rs 300 = Rs 10,500
Bank markup 3%: 35 × 300 × 0.03 = Rs 315
Billed to card: 10,500 + 315 = Rs 10,815
Blocks: ceil(10,815 ÷ 1,000) = 11 → duty 11 × Rs 25 = Rs 275
Grand total on card: 10,815 + 275 = Rs 11,090
Total surcharge over interbank: (315 + 275) ÷ 10,500 = 5.62%

Clean multiple — Rs 42,000 local

Billed amount: Rs 42,000 (a whole multiple of Rs 1,000)
Blocks: ceil(42,000 ÷ 1,000) = 42
Stamp duty: 42 × Rs 25 = Rs 1,050 = exactly 2.50%
No rounding penalty here — but at Rs 42,001 it jumps to 43 blocks = Rs 1,075

Frequently asked questions

Sources & references

The Rs 25 per Rs 1,000rate and the “or part thereof” rounding were last cross-checked against the IRD stamp-duty page on 2026-07-11. The forex markup is a per-bank figure you enter, not a government rate. This tool does not cover debit cards, annual card fees, or interest.

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