Sri Lanka Trade License Fee Calculator

A trade license is the yearly permit a local authority requires before a business may operate on premises within its area. The power to license trades and charge for them comes from the Pradeshiya Sabha Act No. 15 of 1987 (Part IV) and, for urban and city areas, the Urban Councils Ordinance (Cap. 255) and Municipal Councils Ordinance (Cap. 252). The fee itself is fixed by the standard by-laws for the licensing and control of trades and businesses, which most councils have adopted.

Under those by-laws the fee is not a percentage of turnover or profit. It is a flat amount chosen by the annual value (AV) of the premises — the assessed yearly rental value the council already uses to charge rates, printed on your rates/assessment notice. The schedule has three bands:

• AV up to Rs 750 → Rs 500
• AV Rs 751 – Rs 1,500 → Rs 1,000
• AV over Rs 1,500 → Rs 3,000

The lookup, expressed as a rule, is:

if AV <= 750:        fee = Rs 500      (Band 1)
else if AV <= 1500:  fee = Rs 1,000    (Band 2)
else:                fee = Rs 3,000    (Band 3)

The calculator resolves your band two independent ways — a table scan and the direct rule above — and only shows the figure when both agree, so an off-by-one at a band boundary cannot slip through. The local-authority type you pick does not change the standard schedule; it is captured for context and to phrase the "confirm with your council" note correctly, because each council can gazette its own bands.

For a prescribed trade — an eating house, bakery, tea boutique, hairdresser, laundry, or another trade the by-laws list as regulated or offensive — the by-laws allow a separate specific fee on top of the annual-value fee. That amount has no single national figure and varies council to council, so this tool surfaces the notice rather than inventing a number. The trade license is also distinct from business-name registration, the Environmental Protection License, and food-handling certificates, which are separate approvals.

• Pradeshiya Sabha Act No. 15 of 1987 — LawNet (Ministry of Justice)
• Urban Councils Ordinance (Cap. 255) — LawNet
• Municipal Councils Ordinance (Cap. 252) — LawNet
• Ministry of Provincial Councils & Local Government — official site

The standard fee bands on this page were last cross-checked against the by-laws for the licensing and control of trades and businesses on 2026-07-11. Local authorities set fees by gazette and can revise them; always confirm the current figure with your council before paying. This tool is an estimate, not legal or tax advice.