Sri Lanka payslip requirements
A payslip should make salary easy to audit, but the legal record, employee copy and proof of statutory remittance are not the same document. This guide separates them using Labour Department, IRD, EPF and ETF sources.
What the official remuneration record contains
The Shop and Office Employees regulations require covered employers to keep an up-to-date remuneration record for each pay period. The prescribed particulars include:
- Employee name, age, sex, class or grade, and designation or occupation
- The month, fortnight or week covered by the payment
- Hours worked and overtime hours
- Rate of remuneration and each allowance shown separately
- Gross remuneration and every deduction shown separately
- Salary advances made during the period
- Employer and employee pension or provident-fund contributions
- Balance remuneration, payment date and overtime remuneration
- Income tax or other amounts recovered under written law or court order
- Employee acknowledgement of net remuneration received
What a useful employee payslip should show
An employee copy does not need to reproduce irrelevant fields, but it should preserve the figures needed to reconstruct the payment: employer and employee identity, pay period, hours and overtime when applicable, each earning and allowance, gross salary, each deduction, employee EPF, net salary, payment date, and employer EPF and ETF shown separately.
Gross and net salary
Shows payroll's calculation for the pay period.
Bank credit plus the employer's detailed payroll record.
APIT / PAYE
Shows tax withheld from that salary payment.
Employer-issued annual APIT T-10 certificate and IRD records.
Employee and employer EPF
Shows the contribution amounts payroll calculated.
EPF member contribution history or balance.
Employer ETF
Should be employer funded and must not reduce net salary.
ETF member balance or contribution history.
A payslip line is evidence of what payroll reported, not proof that money reached the IRD, EPF or ETF. Check those systems separately.
APIT evidence
The current IRD forms page publishes the Certificate of Income Tax Deductions, commonly called APIT T-10. Obtain it from the employer and reconcile its annual total with monthly deductions.
EPF evidence
Compare employee and employer contribution history with the figures and identifying numbers in payroll records. Investigate unexplained missing periods after allowing for posting time.
ETF evidence
ETF is employer funded. Use the official member service to check the balance or contribution record instead of relying only on a line printed on the salary slip.
Payslip requirement questions
Is an employer required to give every worker a payslip in Sri Lanka?
The official Shop and Office Employees regulations require covered employers to keep an up-to-date remuneration record with detailed particulars. That record-keeping rule should not be overstated as one universal payslip-template rule for every worker and industry. A clear employee salary slip is the practical way to communicate the corresponding pay-period figures.
What information should a Sri Lankan salary slip include?
At minimum, identify the employer, employee and pay period, then separate earnings, gross remuneration, APIT or PAYE, employee EPF, other deductions, net salary, payment date, and employer EPF and ETF contributions. Hours, overtime, allowances and advances should appear when applicable.
Is a payslip proof that APIT, EPF and ETF were paid?
No. It records what payroll calculated. Verify APIT using the employer-issued T-10 certificate and verify EPF and ETF through the official member services. A bank credit confirms net salary received, not statutory remittance.
What is the APIT T-10 certificate?
T-10 is the Inland Revenue Department's certificate of income-tax deductions issued by the employer for the year of assessment. It is separate from a monthly payslip and is used to support the employee's annual APIT record.