Big holders of untaxed money yet to respond to NBR facility

FE Team | Published: July 27, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

S M Jahangir
A good number of holders of undisclosed money are yet to avail themselves of the opportunity to legalise their untaxed money, with only four days reaming for the deadline -- July 31, 2007 -- to expire, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) officials said.
The NBR is still firm in its decision not to extend the deadline for declaration of undisclosed income on payment of the normal rate of duty plus a five per cent penalty.
"We are convinced that only a few among the holders of large amounts of undisclosed money have so far disclosed their untaxed income," a senior NBR official told the FE Thursday.
As a result, the facility, which was offered under section 44(4) (B) of the existing Income Tax Ordinance to bring in a huge amount of undisclosed but legally earned money under the tax network, is yet to fulfill its desired goal.
The NBR issued a statutory regulatory order (SRO) on June 5 last, giving the facility to legalise undisclosed income until July 31 next.
Under the facility, anyone who had failed to disclose certain part of his/ her income made through fair means in the tax return in a particular year has been allowed to legalise the same.
The NBR in the SRO had also made it clear that such an opportunity would not be applicable in case of income made through illegal means.
Until July 26, untaxed money to the tune of Tk 3.30 billion was legalised as some 1479 persons had availed themselves of the opportunity, an NBR official said.
As a result, the authority also received about Tk 660 million as tax and penalty, he said, the NBR legalised Thursday the highest volume of undisclosed money since it offered the facility.
Terming the volume of disclosed money 'unsatisfactory', officials observed that a large amount of untaxed money still remained in the economy.
The NBR officials, however, expressed their hope that a good number of people would rush for availing themselves of the facility in the days ahead.
They further said many people are still making queries to the tax officials about the facility.
Responding to a query, a senior NBR official said, " The NBR will go for tougher action against the persons, who fail to legalise their untaxed money by paying due tax within the given time limit."
The NBR Chairmen Badiur Rahman recently said if any undisclosed money is detected after the July 31 deadline, the holders of such money could be charged fine up to a maximum of 500 per cent.
A section of NBR officials, however, said many people are still showing a 'wait and see' policy for making disclosure of their undeclared money.
Besides, some people are still panicky about taking advantage of the facility, sources said.
People, especially from outside the city areas, are not only unaware of the facility, but also finding themselves in a difficult situation to deal with the income-tax related matters.
Against this backdrop, the NBR has already received requests from many people for the extension of the timeframe.