If you are employed in Sri Lanka, your employer deducts APIT — Advance Personal Income Tax — from your salary every month. Understanding how APIT is calculated lets you check your payslip, plan your take-home pay, and know whether you are owed a refund at year end. This guide walks through what APIT is, how it differs from the old PAYE, and exactly how to calculate it on your monthly salary in 2026. To get your number instantly, use the Sri Lanka APIT Calculator — but it helps to understand the mechanics first.
What is APIT vs PAYE?
APIT (Advance Personal Income Tax) is the monthly income tax an employer withholds from an employee's primary employment income and remits to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD). It is calculated using IRD Tax Table No. 01.
Many Sri Lankans still search for "PAYE" (Pay As You Earn) — the older name for the same idea of deducting tax at source from salaries. The mechanism is the same in spirit, but the current system and the official tables are APIT. If you are looking for a "PAYE calculator," what you actually need today is an APIT calculator using Tax Table No. 01.
How to calculate APIT on your monthly salary (worked example)
APIT is built on three things: your total monthly profits from employment, the personal relief, and the progressive slabs.
- Total monthly profits = cash salary + non-cash benefits. A company-provided residence is valued at 12.5% of monthly salary; a company vehicle is a fixed Rs. 50,000 per month.
- Personal relief = Rs. 150,000 per month (Rs. 1,800,000 per year) is tax-free.
- Progressive slabs apply to income above the relief: 6%, 12%, 18%, 24%, 30%, and 36%.
Worked example. Suppose your gross cash salary is Rs. 400,000/month with no non-cash benefits:
- Total monthly profits: Rs. 400,000
- Less personal relief: Rs. 400,000 − Rs. 150,000 = Rs. 250,000 taxable
- The Rs. 250,000 is then taxed across the progressive slabs (the first slab at 6%, the next at 12%, and so on, with only the income in each slab taxed at that slab's rate).
Because only the portion of income within each slab is taxed at that slab's rate, your effective rate is always lower than your top slab rate. The APIT calculator does this slab-by-slab arithmetic for you and shows the breakdown.
What are the 2026 APIT tax tables?
For 2026, APIT uses Tax Table No. 01 with a Rs. 1,800,000 annual personal relief (Rs. 150,000/month) and six progressive slabs at 6%, 12%, 18%, 24%, 30%, and 36%. Each rate applies only to the band of income that falls within that slab — income below Rs. 150,000/month attracts no APIT at all.
What is "APIT paid on primary employment income"?
"Primary employment" is your main job — the employer you nominate to apply the full personal relief. APIT on primary employment income is computed on Tax Table No. 01, which builds in the Rs. 1,800,000 relief. If you have a second job, that secondary income is taxed differently (without a second helping of the relief), which is why the "primary employment" distinction matters on your payslip.
How to reclaim over-deducted APIT
APIT is an advance tax — it is an estimate withheld monthly. Over a full Year of Assessment (April to March), the total withheld can exceed your actual liability, for example if you changed jobs, had months without income, or received irregular payments. You reconcile this by filing your annual income tax return with the IRD, which refunds or credits the excess. Keeping your monthly payslips and APIT deduction records makes this reconciliation straightforward.
Calculate your APIT now
The fastest way to see your exact monthly deduction, effective rate, and net take-home pay is the Sri Lanka APIT Calculator. Enter your monthly salary, flag any company residence or vehicle benefit, and it applies Tax Table No. 01, the Rs. 1,800,000 relief, and all six slabs to return your APIT in seconds.
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Built by a Sri Lankan software engineer passionate about personal finance and investing. WealthyIslander provides specialized financial tools and insights tailored for Sri Lankans.