Underperforming Rs. 10 b RAMIS system at risk

RAMIS fails to deliver core functions like taxpayer portals, automated data analytics, risk management, and taxpayer validation World Bank assessment flags IT governance gaps, vendor oversight and staffing shortfalls RD plans in-house takeover by 2027 but lacks skilled staff and frameworks Reforms could yield 40x returns, but require culture change, modernisation and legislative reform

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SRI Lanka's Rs. 10 billion Revenue Administration Management Information System (RAMIS), introduced in 2016 to modernise tax administration, is facing serious risks due to weaknesses in IT capacity, governance, and vendor management at the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), the World Bank has warned.

"The lack of functionality in the Revenue Administration Management Information System (RAMIS) remains a binding constraint in improving tax administration," it said in its latest assessment titled: Sri Lanka Public Finance Review — Towards a Balanced Fiscal Adjustment.

"There is a significant gap in maturity of IRD's IT department, posing challenges to handling critical tasks in the absence of vendor support, in turn hampering the department's ability to drive digital transformation or optimise the performance of key systems like RAMIS."

Despite the investment, the RAMIS system, which IRD implemented to modernise the tax administration’s processes, has underperformed. Without the full spectrum of automated capabilities functional in RAMIS, the IRD must rely on manual interventions, which are resource-intensive, error-prone, and thus less reliable.

Under a new takeover plan, IRD is expected to build core capabilities to develop, run, and manage the core IT systems by 2027.

RAMIS was developed by a Singaporean firm.

"Given RAMIS's role in managing Rs. trillion ($6.6 billion) in national revenue, ensuring long-term financial sustainability and service continuity is critical. Strategic cost management and proactive financial planning will be essential to maintaining RAMIS's functionality and reliability beyond vendor support," the World Bank said.