The National Board of Revenue (NBR) eyes some 1,50,000 new individual taxpayers from public servants in the next tax year (2016-17) with the recent pay hike of the government officials that came into effect from July 1, 2015.
All of the first class government officials (grade 9 and above) and half of the second class officials (grade 10 and below) will come under the tax-net with the implementation of the new pay-scale, officials said.
Currently, some 75,000 government officials have tax files and are paying income tax to the public exchequer.
"People having a monthly income of Tk 18,000 have to pay income tax," said a senior income tax official.
For the current FY, the government has set tax-free ceiling at Tk 2,50,000 for individual taxpayers.
People having annual income above the limit will have to pay income tax.
"We expect additional 65,000 taxpayers from first class government officials while 70,000 from second class officials," the tax official said.
The tax authority has instructed the field offices to monitor their tax payment with the cooperation of accountant general's (AG) office.
Almost half of the government officials under the second class category will be new taxpayers with the increment and hike of their salaries, he added.
According to the data of the Ministry of Finance (MoF), there are some 139,617 government officials in the first class category (grade 9 and above).
The government has some 1,42,763 officials under second class category.
In the current FY, the government included two festival allowances along with basic salary under tax net. Income tax is deducted at source from the monthly salary of the civil servants.
Earlier, the government officials were paying income tax only on their basic salaries.
In the budget for the current FY, the finance minister vowed to include all incomes and allowances of the government officials under income tax-net with the implementation of the new pay-scale.
Currently, there is discrimination in the tax structure between the government officials and the officials of semi-government and autonomous bodies.
Officials of the semi-government and autonomous bodies are paying tax on all of their allowances and salaries.
First class officers' basic salary starts from Tk 22,000 to above while second class employees' basic salary begins from Tk 16,000.
Public servants have been paying income tax on their basic salaries from 2010.
On September 6, the eighth pay-scale for public servants got the cabinet consent.
The new pay-scale for 2.1 million civil servants was made effective from the first day of the current FY.
All the arrears will be given to the government service holders in two phases.
There are no time scale and selection grade in the new pay-scale. However, the pay-scale has the provision of yearly increment.
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