Milestone ·
100,000 views.
Thank you, Sri Lanka.
We put this site online at the end of March. Four months on, it’s been viewed more than a hundred thousand times. We didn’t expect that.
100,000+
Pages viewed
29,853
Duty calculations run
21,777
HS code searches
9,000+
HS codes covered
Calculation and search counts come from the site’s own counters, refreshed hourly.
Why we made it
Sri Lanka charges seven separate taxes on an import: CID, PAL, Cess, Excise or SPD, SCL, SSCL and VAT. They are not all charged on the same base. SSCL is worked out on a total that already includes the Excise and the SCL. VAT sits on top of all of it. So the order you calculate in changes the number at the bottom.
Most people work it out from the NITG, which runs to several hundred pages, or by ringing someone who has done it a thousand times. Both work. Neither is quick, and if you stack them wrong you usually find out when the container is already at the port.
So we put the 2026 schedule into a database and wrote the calculation out properly. Type in what you’re bringing, pick the code, enter your CIF value, and you get each of the seven layers and what they come to.
It won’t replace your clearing agent. It should mean you know what to expect before you call them.
What’s on here now
Most of this started as a question someone sent us. Chapter 87 came up so often that vehicles ended up with their own calculator. People kept asking which exchange rate customs actually assesses on, so we started publishing the gazette rates every week. A few of you wanted to cost a whole shipment at once instead of one code at a time, so there’s a builder for that.
HS Code Search
Describe the product in plain English, get the classification.
Duty Calculator
All seven layers applied to your CIF value, in order.
Vehicle Import Calculator
Chapter 87 has its own rules: surcharge, luxury tax, VEL.
Import Cost Calculator
Total landed cost: price, freight, duty and clearing.
Exchange Rates
The weekly gazette rates customs actually assesses on.
CusDec Builder
Cost a whole multi-line shipment, not one code at a time.
Container Tracking
Follow a container across the major lines calling Colombo.
MCP Server
Query the tariff straight from Claude or any MCP client.
One small ask
Send it to someone who needs it
We don’t run ads here and we’ve never paid to promote the site. Every one of those hundred thousand visits came from somebody sending the link to somebody else.
So if you’ve got some use out of it, forward it to one person who would too. Someone at the office, your clearing agent, whichever trade group you’re in. That’s the whole ask.
Or copy it by hand: tariff.lk/announcements/thank-you-for-100k-views
What’s next
- Keeping the schedule current. Every rate traces back to the 2026 NITG, and it gets updated when a gazette revision lands.
- More on the vehicle side. That is what most of you come here for, and it is the part with the most rules.
- A CusDec builder that takes you from a proforma invoice through to a declaration you can actually file.
What’s free now stays free. If we charge for something later it’ll be a separate thing, not a fence around what you already use.
Thanks for using it. If a rate looks wrong, or we’ve put a product under the wrong code, tell us. Corrections are the most useful mail we get.