NBR
NBR goes all-out to boost tax revenue for better economic growth
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has intensified its tax survey, inspection, monitoring and realisation to boost the Tax GDP ratio, currently the lowest in the South Asian region.
The poor situation exists although NBR has recently witnessed a 9.51 per cent growth in individual income tax return submission.“The Board has already directed all the field offices to intensify and strengthen their respective tax survey to have a justified growth with other wings,” a senior official of the NBR told UNB wishing anonymity.He said that the Board has also directed the field offices to give extra efforts for collecting advance income tax, which is a good source of collection.
Also read: Whitening black money: Stock exchanges ask NBR to continue it in stock marketThe revenue target for the NBR for FY2021-22 has been fixed at 10.7 per cent, higher than the revised target of the FY2020-21. The revenue collection was set at Tk 330,078 crore during FY2021-22.In the last FY2020-21 the revised revenue target was Tk 301,000 crore while it was set Tk 330,000 in the main budget.Of the total target the VAT wing will contribute the lion share with Tk 127,745 crore which is 11 per cent higher than the revised target of the last fiscal. In the last fiscal the target was Tk 125, 163 crore.The target for Income Tax and Tax on Profit has been set Tk 104, 952 crore where it was Tk 103, 945 crore in the last fiscal.
Also read: Even government entities press NBR for tax exemption: NBR ChairmanThe revenue collection from import duty will be Tk 37, 907 crore, Tk 54,465 crore from from Supplementary Duty, Tk 56 crore from export duty, Tk 3825 crore from Excise Duty while Tk 1050 crore from other taxes and duties.As part of intensifying the tax survey information of the flat and house owners in posh areas like Gulshan, Banani, Uttara, Dhanmondi of the capital city will be gathered.The eligible but not enlisted persons will be given electronic tax identification number (e-TIN) instantly. “Proper directives have been given to the field level officials,” the NBR official said.Punitive measures will be taken against the e-TIN holders who fail to submit their income tax return or apply for time extension.The NBR teams will visit houses, shops and other commercial establishments in the city’s various areas to find out the potential taxpayers. The officials will take support from service agencies to scrutinise information related to income, wealth and property of the potentially eligible taxpayers.The survey teams are collecting information related to national identity card, trade licence and other business documents from people having income from house or business properties and from service or other professions.NBR has directed the tax commissioners to bring all eligible persons and organisation under the tax net and take initiative to remove the phobia regarding tax payment, sources said.It also asked to intensify the tax survey and activate the inactive TIN numbers as submitting income tax return has been made mandatory for every TIN holder from this fiscal.The Income Tax Wing of the NBR has already given necessary directives to the field offices in this regard.As a part of the internal survey, the field level officials have already collected possible taxpayers information from city corporations, Rajuk and sub-registrar offices. This is popularly called ‘secondary data’.
Secondary data refers to the information of the individuals that are already kept with an organisation.The NBR also has started to collect information of the potential taxpayers at the upazila level through secondary data gathering, otherwise known as internal survey.According to data from the April 2021 issue of the World Economic Outlook, the tax to GDP ratio of the country has been 9.9 per cent on an average since 2016-2020, while it is 19.67 per cent for India, 21.50 per cent for Nepal, 14.88 for Pakistan, 12.74 per cent for Sri Lanka.The ratio is 24.72 per cent for developing countries and 35.81 per cent for developed countries, according to the data.The tax-to-GDP ratio is a ratio of a nation's tax revenue relative to its gross domestic product, the value of goods and services produced in a country during a certain period. The ratio is also a marker of how well the government controls a country's economic resources.According to an official document, the tax to GDP ratio in the current fiscal has been estimated at 10.7 per cent.
Whitening black money: Stock exchanges ask NBR to continue it in stock market
The country’s stock exchanges and merchant bankers want the National Board of Revenue to continue with the provision of whitening black money by investing in stock market with 5 per cent penalty in the upcoming budget for FY22-23.
This concession should be allowed without any question, said the members of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) and Bangladesh Merchant Bankers Association (BMBA) in their pre-budget discussion with NBR officials here on Tuesday.
They said that if this opportunity is continued, the capital market will be strengthened and the revenue of the government will increase.
Besides, money laundering from the country will also be decreased if the opportunity continues.
Taxpaying professionals will be able to invest their legally earned undisclosed money in the capital market, they said.
“I think this will reduce the risk of money laundering as the government's revenue increases,” said an official of DSE.
READ: Restaurant owners want reduction in VAT & NBR’s one-stop service
In order to further expand the capital market, it has also been proposed to reduce the corporate tax rate difference between listed and non-listed companies to at least 10 per cent and to give tax exemption to encourage SME companies to enter the capital market.
At present, the corporate tax rate of listed companies is 22.5 per cent while for non-listed companies is 30 per cent.
READ: Even government entities press NBR for tax exemption: NBR Chairman
However, tax rates for banks, insurance, financial institutions, telecom and tobacco companies are specifically fixed out of these rates.
Even government entities press NBR for tax exemption: NBR Chairman
Chairman of National Revenue Board (NBR) Abu Hena Md. Rahmatul Muneem on Tuesday said lack of self-motivation to pay tax exists in the country and even government entities are seeking tax exemption.
He urged the government entities to start a culture of paying tax from self-responsibility to the state instead of creating pressure for tax exemption.
The NBR chairman was addressing a pre-budget discussion with the Economic Reporters’ Forum (ERF) members.
Placing a budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year 2022-23, the ERF has urged the NBR for a comprehensive survey and research to determine the actual number of taxable citizens in the country.
Such a study will be justified to increase revenue income along with identifying the actual number of taxable people and encourage them to pay income tax, said ERF in their budget proposal for the upcoming FY 2022-23.
ERF president Sharmeen Rinvi and General Secretary SM Rashidul Islam presented the proposal to NBR Chairman.
Sharmin said experts believe that a large number of people have crossed the taxable income in the last ten years due to the growth of the country's economy, but they did not pay tax yet.
Though around 2.5 million have been paying tax regularly among the 7 million TIN holders, the actual taxable people crossed 20 million, which can be determined by a comprehensive survey, she said.
ERF said foreign nationals should be brought under the tax net adding that over 85,000 foreign nationals work in Bangladesh. But only 14/15 thousand of them submitted income tax to NBR.
According to a study by TIB, foreigners working in the country take away Tk 26,000 crore a year. The NBR needs to step up its efforts to bring foreign nationals under the tax net, ERF budget proposal said.
Rashidul urged NBR to install a user-friendly online system for encouraging people to pay income tax in a hassle free environment.
He emphasized completion of the warehouse automation project to bring order in the bonded warehouse management.
To prevent irregularities in the sector and create more export-friendly bond management, the entire process needs to be brought under automation by expeditious completion of the Bonded Warehouse Automation project, said ERF.
NBR members, senior tax officials and ERF members were also present at the event.
NBR asks trade bodies, professionals for budget proposals
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has asked for proposals on income tax, value added tax (VAT) and import duty for preparation of the budget for the fiscal year of 2022-23.
The revenue board asked for the proposals from the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce Industry (FBCCI) and other top chambers within February 5, 2022.
In addition to revenue collection, the NBR formulates fiscal policy after discussing with the traders and stakeholders.
Every year the NBR organizes pre-budget discussion with representatives from different sectors to ensure participatory budgeting. The NBR is taking similar initiatives for the preparation of budget for the fiscal year 2022-23.
Read: Edible oil price may go up further: Tipu Munshi
To this end, a participatory, people-oriented, business and taxpayer-friendly and potentially balanced budget with revenue potential, along with the proposals from taxpayers at all levels, including trade associations, professional organizations, research institutes and intellectuals.
The institutions, agencies or departments which are not members of any chamber or association can also send budget proposals directly or by mail to the NBR.
Income tax return submission deadline extended to December 31
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has extended the deadline for income tax return submission until December 31.
NBR’s Public Relations Officer M A Momen confirmed the matter to UNB on Tuesday.
Read: People’s interest in paying tax is growing in Bangladesh: Finance Minister
Earlier, the NBR said that the deadline would not be extended this year but later changed the decision considering the Covid-19 situation so that more taxpayers could submit their returns.
NBR to award 9 companies for paying highest VAT
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will honour 9 firms on the National VAT Day for paying highest amount of Value Added Tax (VAT). The VAT department of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) on Wednesday released a list of awardees. Earlier the Economic Relations Division (ERD) published a gazette notification in this regard.
Read:NBR to organize month-long tax support service from Nov 1 December 10 is celebrated as the National VAT Day every year. The NBR will honour the highest tax payers of the fiscal year 2019-20 on this day. Nine firms under three categories- production, business and service- will receive the awards at a ceremony in Dhaka. The list of awardees includes Aristopharma Limited, Square Toiletries Limited and Maya Bidi Factory under the production category, SM Motors, AMCO Bajaj International and Union Motors Limited under business category and IDTCO Bangladesh Co. Ltd. Gray Advertising Ltd. and Robert Boss (Bangladesh) Ltd under service category. The VAT department of the National Board of Revenue has been regularly honoring the top VAT payers for several years.
Read: NBR directs big push to reach the revenue target for current fiscal Business establishments which have Electronic Business Identification Number (EBIN), issue regular VAT receipts to the consumers and regularly deposit the collected VAT money in the government treasury are considered eligible for the award. NBR will also honour 102 companies in the three categories as the top VAT payers at the district level.
Non-submission of report on money laundering by e-commerce firms irks HC
The High Court on Tuesday expressed discontent as the authorities concerned failed to submit reports in time on steps taken against money laundering by e-commerce firms and policy to collect tax and VAT from the firms.
The HC bench of justice M Enayetur Rahim and Md Mostafizur Rahman expressed their dissatisfaction during a hearing on three writ petitions filed by victims of fraudulence by e-commerce companies .
The bench said the court will take the matter seriously as the concerned government bodies did not respond to the notice issued by the High Court.
Also read: BFIU seeks bank account details of 23 e-commerce platforms
The court asked Deputy Attorney General Bipul Bagmar to inform the matter to the Attorney General.
The court then set November 23 for next hearing and extended the time for report submission till then.
Earlier on September 30, the court asked the Ministry of Commerce, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) to submit separate reports on money laundering by the e-commerce platforms by November 8.
The court asked the BFIU to inform it the steps it has taken on money laundering by e-commerce firms and also wanted to know from NBR its policy on collecting VAT and Tax from these firms.
The court also inquired about the area of work of the 16-member technical committee formed by the Commerce Ministry for the e-commerce sector.
Lawyers Mohammad Shishir Monir, Md Anwarul Islam and Pallob Kabir M Humaun appeared for the petitioners, while Deputy Attorney General Bipul Bagmar represented the state during the hearing.
Earlier on September 20, Supreme Court lawyer Anwarul Islam filed a writ petition seeking its directive on creating an independent e-commerce monitoring institute to protect the interest and rights of customers of e-commerce.
On September 22, another SC lawyer Mohammad Humayun Kabir filed a petition seeking its directive on forming a probe-committee to find out the responsible individual or government authority whose negligence or failure has caused lakhs of consumers monetary losses from renowned e-commerce like Evaly, e-orange, Dhamaka, Daraz, Qcoom, Aladiner Prodip, Alesha Mart, and Dalal Plus.
On September 23, thirty-three consumers of e-orange filed a writ to get back their money from the company.
Also read: 49 e-commerce platforms are blacklisted, refund of customers’ money in process: Commerce Ministry
The petition was filed by advocate Shishir Monir seeking bar on the senior officials and authority of the risky e-commerce companies like e-orange from leaving the country and seeking a committee for protecting the interest of both the customer and company coordinated by economists, IT experts, and stakeholders.
You can submit tax online; app launched
Taxpayers now can pay income tax returns as well as assess their assets through an online web application -- digiTax.
Desh Universal launched the web application to simplify the submission of income tax returns.
Md Alamgir Hossain, member (tax policy) of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), inaugurated digiTax at a ceremony held at the auditorium of Economic Reporters’ Forum (ERF) on Saturday.
Alamgir Hossain said a huge interest has developed now among people to pay income tax as the number of taxpayers is now growing day by day.
Read: NBR moves to speed up revenue collection
Alamgir said digiTax would help simplify further the stride towards digitizing tax-related services.
Apart from allowing the submission of returns online, he said, the NBR would observe Income Tax Month from November 1 for which an 'environment of fair’ is being created at tax zones so that the taxpayers can submit their returns with ease and comfort.
President of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) Mahmudul Hasan Khusru, Dhaka Taxes Bar Association President AKM Azizur Rahman, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Director Khaled Mahmud Sujon, digiTax director Golam Shahriyer Ronju and ERF general secretary SM Rashidul Islam were, among others, present on the occasion.
Read: NBR faces uphill task in achieving VAT collection target
Highlighting the main features of digiTax, its team member Syeda Nusrat Haider said there are many taxpayers of different levels in the country who do not know how to calculate income tax properly.
“In order to resolve this problem, we’ve come up with a new system through which the users can prepare their returns with ease and comfort through giving inputs as per their requirements,” she said.
GP congratulates LTU-Tax for achieving revenue target
Grameenphone on Tuesday congratulated the Largest Taxpayers Unit (LTU-Tax) of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) for their outstanding performance to achieve the record revenue target of Tk 24,000 crore for the fiscal year 2020-21.
Meanwhile, Grameenphone has been announced as the highest taxpayer within the LTU-Tax for the year 2020 – 2021 at same event held at the capital's Skycity Hotel.
Grameenphone deposited BDT3,889crore in taxes for the 2020 – 2021 window.
Read GP Explorers: 2nd batch graduates from Grameenphone's in-house skill academy
On behalf of Grameenphone, its CEO Yasir Azman congratulated LTU-Tax while receiving an award for GP's contribution to the national exchequer.
"We would like to congratulate LTU-Tax for achieving this historical milestone and contributing further to self-sustained Digital Bangladesh in the making. This achievement is a testimony of commitment, digitalization & automation by NBR and growing good and ethical business practices by corporates and citizens as a collective force. We are humbled that our contribution has also been recognized for the consistent contribution to the national exchequer. We look forward to contributing more in the coming days to unleash the full potential of Digital Bangladesh, " said Yasir Azman.
Read Grameenphone awarded for resolving highest cases through ADR
Fazle Kabir, Governor of Bangladesh Bank; Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem, Senior Secretary of Internal Resources Division (IRD) and Chairman of NBR; Md Alamgir Hossain, Member (Tax Policy) (Grade-1); Md Golam Nabi, Member (Tax Administration and Human Resource Management) (Grade-1); Md Iqbal Hossain, Tax Commissioner, LTU. In addition, from Grameenphone, Jens Becker, CFO, and Md Mohsin, Head of Corporate Tax were present at the program.
NBR directs big push to reach the revenue target for current fiscal
The National Board of Revenue has asked its offices to intensify their drive to attain this fiscal year’s revenue collection target overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic so the tax-GDP ratio improves to double-digit.
It also asked customs and taxes appellate tribunals to clear the pending cases in due time.
These directives have been given recently at a coordination meeting of the finance ministry’s Internal Resources Division (IRD).
Read BGMEA seeks customs, VAT, income tax-related support from NBR
Speaking at the meeting NBR chairman and IRD secretary Abu Hena Md. Rahmatul Muneem asked all NBR officials to remain sincere and active to achieve the revenue collection set at Tk 330,078 crore during fiscal 2021-22.
He asked the NBR members, customs commissioners and tax commissioners to intensify proper monitoring system.
The NBR chairman directed the research and statistics division director general to submit updated revenue collection information in every month’s coordination meeting.
Also read: NBR faces uphill task in achieving VAT collection target
Of the total target the VAT wing will contribute the lion share with Tk 127,745 crore which is 11 percent higher than the revised target of the last fiscal. Last fiscal the target was Tk 125, 163 crore.
The target for Income Tax and Tax on Profit has been set Tk 104, 952 crore where it was Tk 103, 945 in the last fiscal.
The revenue collection from import duty will be Tk 37, 907 crore, Tk 54,465 crore from from Supplementary Duty, Tk 56 from export duty, Tk 3825 from Excise Duty while Tk 1050 crore from other taxes and duties.
Read NBR to prioritize local industries in 2021-22 budget, says its chairman
In the last fiscal (2020-21) the revised revenue target was Tk 301,000 crore while it was set Tk 330,000 in the main budget.
But the NBR could not attain the revised target mainly due to the ongoing pandemic that saw the government to impose lockdowns affecting the economy.
According to the available data the revenue collection in 2020-21 fiscal was Tk 41,000 crore less than the revised target while Tk 70,000 from the original target.
Read NBR looking to procure non-intrusive inspection systems for export-import items
The collection was Tk 259,900 crore although the growth was 19 percent.