Sri Lanka Import Duty & Landed Cost Calculator

Sri Lankan import levies stack on one another, and each one is charged on a different base. Enter your shipment value and the rates for your HS code to see every levy worked out on the base Sri Lanka Customs publishes for it, down to a landed cost.

Shipment value

Charged after duty, so they sit outside every tax base.

Rates for your HS code

Rates differ by commodity and change with each budget. Look yours up in the current tariff rather than assuming.

Sri Lanka Customs tariff lookup

CIF value

LKR 1,135,000

FOB + freight + insurance

Total landed cost

LKR 1,807,861

duty adds 52.7% to CIF

How each levy is calculated

Customs formula
LevyCharged onRateAmount
Customs Import DutyCIFLKR 1,135,00015%LKR 170,250
CessCIF + 10%LKR 1,248,5000%LKR 0
PALCIFLKR 1,135,00010%LKR 113,500
Excise (Special Provisions) DutyCIF + 15% + duty + cess + PALLKR 1,589,0000%LKR 0
SSCLCIF + 10% + duty + cess + PAL + exciseLKR 1,532,2502.5%LKR 38,306
VATCIF + 10% + duty + cess + PAL + exciseLKR 1,532,25018%LKR 275,805
Total leviesLKR 597,861

The uplifts in the “charged on” column are not a mistake. Sri Lanka Customs adds 10% to CIF in the Cess, SSCL, and VAT bases, and 15% in the Excise base. Because each levy stacks on the ones before it, duty compounds rather than adding up.

Landed cost

CIF value
LKR 1,135,000
Total levies
LKR 597,861
Clearing & local charges
LKR 75,000
Total cost
LKR 1,807,861

Every levy is charged on a different base

This is the part that makes import duty hard to estimate by hand. The levies do not all apply to the same value, and they stack: each is charged on a base that already contains the ones before it.

Two uplifts in particular are easy to miss. Cess is charged on CIF plus ten percent, and excise on CIF plus fifteen percent. Using the same uplift for both, or none at all, understates the total.

The base each levy is charged on
LevyCharged on
Customs Import DutyCIF
CessCIF + 10%
PALCIF
Excise (Special Provisions)CIF + 15% + duty + cess + PAL
SSCLCIF + 10% + duty + cess + PAL + excise
VATCIF + 10% + duty + cess + PAL + excise

Start from CIF, not from the invoice

CIF is cost, insurance, and freight added together - what the goods cost plus what it cost to get them here and insure them on the way. Every levy is ultimately calculated from it, so an error in the freight figure moves the entire duty bill.

Charges that arise after the goods land - clearing, handling, storage, local transport - are not part of CIF and are not taxed. They belong in the landed cost but outside every tax base, which is why this calculator keeps them separate.

Why the total exceeds the sum of the rates

Because the levies compound. A 15% duty, 10% PAL, and 18% VAT do not add to 43% of CIF - VAT is charged on a base that already includes the duty and the PAL and the ten percent uplift, so the effective total is higher.

The figure worth comparing across products is total levies as a percentage of CIF, which this calculator reports directly. It is the only number that lets you compare the duty burden on two different HS codes.

  • Rates are indexed by HS code in the Customs tariff and revised regularly.
  • Vehicle excise is charged per cubic centimetre rather than as a percentage.
  • Special Commodity Levy, where it applies, is a unit rate and replaces several other levies.
  • A clearing agent will confirm the correct HS code, which determines every rate.

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Frequently asked questions

Everything starts from the CIF value - cost, insurance, and freight added together. Customs Import Duty and PAL are charged on CIF directly. Cess is charged on CIF plus a 10% uplift. Excise is charged on CIF plus a 15% uplift with the duty, cess, and PAL already added. VAT comes last, on CIF plus 10% plus every levy before it.

Because the published formulae specify different bases for each. It is not an approximation or a rounding convention - Sri Lanka Customs sets Cess on CIF plus 10% and Excise on CIF plus 15% plus the earlier levies. Using the same uplift for both, as many informal calculators do, understates the excise charge.

Cost, insurance, and freight: the price of the goods plus what it cost to ship and insure them to Sri Lanka. It is the value every levy is ultimately calculated from, so an error in the freight figure moves the entire duty bill. Charges incurred after the goods arrive - clearing, handling, local transport - are not part of CIF and are not taxed.

In the Sri Lanka Customs tariff, indexed by HS code. Rates differ by commodity and are revised with each budget and by gazette during the year, which is why they are inputs here rather than fixed in the tool. Your clearing agent or the Customs tariff lookup will confirm the current rates for your HS code.

The cascade is the same, but vehicle excise is charged at a unit rate per cubic centimetre of engine capacity rather than as a percentage, and those rates are set by gazette and revised frequently. Enter the excise as the rate applicable to your vehicle from the current gazette rather than assuming a percentage.

Because the levies compound. Each one is charged on a base that already includes the ones before it, so a set of individually modest rates produces a much larger total than adding them together would suggest. The effective figure this calculator reports is total levies as a percentage of CIF, which is the number worth comparing across products.

Considerably more than the duty rate alone suggests, because several levies stack on bases that already include earlier levies. Start from the CIF value, then apply duty, PAL, cess, excise where applicable, and finally VAT and SSCL - each on its own base, which is what this calculator implements.

It depends on the HS code for the specific product, and rates change. Sri Lanka Customs publishes the tariff by classification, so the rate has to be looked up for what you are actually importing rather than assumed - and getting the classification wrong changes what you owe.