A dozen banks pay 22pc of corporate tax in FY '18

Some 12 commercial banks paid 21.75 per cent of the total corporate tax collected by the Large Taxpayer Unit (LTU) belonging to the income tax wing of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) during the fiscal year (FY), 2017-18.

Of the banks, Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited, Standard Chartered Bank Ltd, HSBC, Sonali Bank, Agrani Bank and Southeast Bank are among the top payers.

Islami Bank paid the highest amount of Tk 6.11 billion, followed by Standard Chartered Bank, Tk 5.20 billion last fiscal year.

During FY '18, the LTU collected Tk 168.70 billion, mostly corporate tax, achieving 22 per cent per cent growth over that of the previous year.

Of the total collection,12 banks paid Tk 36.40 billion last year.

Although income tax wing lagged behind its annual revised target, the unit met its goal against its revised target for Tk 164.12 billion.

However, the target for the unit has been set Tk 215 billion for the current fiscal expecting 31 per cent growth.

A senior official of the unit said the majority of the LTU's tax comes from banks every year.

"This year, the government has cut the corporate tax rates for banks by 2.5 per cent. The reduction would result in Tk 25 billion losses in corporate tax collection to the government," he said.

He, however, expressed the optimism about achieving the target by gearing up effort to realise arrears.

A sum of Tk 125 billion is lying with the telecom operators and banks as outstanding tax.

Some 57 commercial banks are in operation in the country.

According to the official data, HSBC paid Tk 3.42 billion, Sonali paid Tk 2.99 billion, Agrani Tk 2.77 billion, Southeast Tk 2.63 billion, Pubali Tk 2.61 billion, Dutch Bangla Tk 2.12 billion, Al Arafah Tk 2.23 billion, United Commercial Tk 2.20 billion, BRAC Bank Tk 2.10 billion and National Tk 2.02 billion in corporate tax last year.

The large unit has placed names of those 12 banks as recipients of tax cards as the highest corporate taxpayers.

The unit official said there is no undisputed arrears and reopening activity against the banks.

The unit also placed names of 12 non-banking financial institutions, three mobile phone operators, eight pharmaceuticals companies, six readymade garment companies and nine engineering sector corporate taxpayers to the NBR for tax card nomination for FY 2018-19.

From the leather sector, the unit has proposed names of three corporate taxpayers -- Bata Shoe Company, Apex Footwear Limited and Apex Tannery Limited.

The unit also proposed name of Media Star Limited (Daily Star) for awarding tax card under the print media category. The Daily Star paid Tk 37 million corporate taxes last year.

Officials said the unit has nominated names of corporate taxpayers as per Tax card Policy-2010 (amended). The tax payment data has been compiled on the basis of tax return information submitted in FY 2017-18.

The revenue board will hand over tax cards to the highest taxpayers, both corporate and individuals, on November 12 next on occasion of Tax Fair-2018.