Sri Lanka TV Import Tax Calculator (2026)

A complete television arriving in Sri Lanka is classified under HS heading 8528.72 (reception apparatus for television, colour). A finished TV is a consumer-electronics good, so it carries both a positive Customs Import Duty and a Cess on top of the usual import levies. Every charge stacks on the CIF (Cost + Insurance + Freight) declared on your invoice, applied in this statutory order:

1. Customs Import Duty (CID) = CIF × 15%, the HS 8528.72 General Duty Rate for a finished TV.
2. Cess = CIF × 15%, the ad-valorem Cess levied on finished consumer electronics under this heading.
3. PAL (Ports & Airports Development Levy) = CIF × 10% under PAL Act No. 18 of 2011.
4. Duty Surcharge = CID × 0%, a surcharge on the Customs Duty that only applies when specifically gazetted; it is currently 0%.
5. VAT = (CIF + CID + Cess + PAL + Surcharge) × 18%, the IRD's current VAT rate on the duty-inclusive base.
6. SSCL (Social Security Contribution Levy) = the same duty-inclusive base × 2.5%, under SSCL Act No. 25 of 2022. SSCL and VAT sit side by side on that base; they do not stack on each other.

The shortcut formula

Because VAT and SSCL both feed off the same duty-inclusive base, the six ad-valorem charges collapse into a single multiplier on CIF. At HS 8528.72 rates that multiplier is CIF × 0.6870 (68.70%). Multiply your CIF in rupees by that number and you have the import tax. The module exposes both methods, calculateTvImportTax walks the line items so you can audit the working, while calculateTotalTaxByMultiplier gives the one-shot answer, and both agree to the rupee.

Why baggage does not help with a TV

The import mode does not change the tax on a television. Sri Lanka Customs treats a TV as a dutiable good rather than a personal effect, so it is excluded from the duty-free personal-baggage allowance. A set carried in accompanied baggage from the Gulf pays exactly the same CID, Cess, PAL, VAT and SSCL as one shipped by courier, you simply declare it at the red channel and settle the duty at the airport. The toggle in the calculator is there to make this explicit: pick either mode and the tax is identical; courier just adds separate freight to the CIF.

Edge cases the calculator handles

A CIF of zero returns zero tax with no divide-by-zero in the effective-rate figure. A negative or non-numeric price is clamped to zero rather than producing NaN. Non-LKR prices are converted at the exchange rate you enter before any tax is applied, matching the order Customs uses on its own worksheet. The optional local-retail field never affects the tax. It only compares the landed cost against what a shop charges. Quantities above 50 fall outside scope, because a shipment that large is a commercial import that Customs values case by case.

Three scenarios that reconcile to the Customs tariff line by line. Plug each set of inputs into the calculator above, the breakdown table should match these steps to the rupee.

• Sri Lanka Customs: National Import Tariff Guide 2024 (HS 8528.72, colour televisions)
• Sri Lanka Customs: Personal Baggage Allowance (a TV is not a duty-free item)
• IRD: Value Added Tax (current rate)
• IRD: Social Security Contribution Levy (SSCL Act No. 25 of 2022)

The rates above were last cross-checked against the cited sources on 2026-07-08. The schedule is reviewed after every budget speech and whenever a new PAL, VAT or Cess gazette is published. If you spot a mismatch, email the author and the page is updated within 24 hours.