United News of Bangladesh

The Internal Resources Division (IRD) on Sunday suspended Assistant Tax Commissioner Fatema Begum of Tax Zone-25 for verbally abusing a traffic sergeant in the capital. The suspension order, signed by IRD Secretary and NBR Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan, stated that the incident occurred around 8pm on April 12 at Palashi intersection in Ward-26 under Lalbagh Police Station. According to the order, Fatema Begum was in a private car when on-duty Traffic Sergeant Shaha Jamal asked her to produce the vehicle’s documents. Although she claimed the papers were in order, she refused to show them. Another NBR official sent into retirement When the sergeant repeated his request, she got out of the car and hurled abusive language at him, including derogatory remarks such as “child of a lowly person” and “beggar’s child,” and accused him of taking bribes all his life. Following the incident, Sergeant Shaha Jamal filed a case against her with Lalbagh Police Station. The IRD said her actions amounted to misconduct under Rule 3(b) of the Government Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules. A departmental proceeding has been initiated against her, and she has been suspended from service under the same rules. During the suspension period, she will be entitled to subsistence allowance as per the regulations.

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.

Bangladesh is looking at simplifying its foreign direct investment (FDI) policy as well as the corporate taxation system to lure companies seeking to move their manufacturing base from China in view of the Covid pandemic, UNB has learnt.