A high-powered government body has proposed a fivefold raise in the ceiling of income tax payment through treasury chalan as a measure of preventing forgeries.
It recommended enhancing the ceiling of income tax payment through treasury chalan to Tk 50,000 from the existing amount of Tk 10,000.
The Cash and Debt Management Committee (CDMC) proposed the measure following several incidents of forgery in depositing the taxpayers' money with the public exchequer through pay-orders.
Also, the system would expedite the deposit of tax money with the government exchequer.
In the 35th meeting of the CDMC, representatives from the finance division, Bangladesh Bank (BB), the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the office of Controller General of Accounts (CGA) decided to increase the ceiling of tax payment through treasury chalan.
The decision has been placed with the ministry of finance for approval.
A technical committee scrutinised the possibility of allowing tax payment only through treasury chalan instead of pay-order, demand draft and account-payee cheque.
A member of the CDMC committee said all of the options of tax payment would be continued for facilitating taxpayers until automation of the tax- payment system.
"Until introduction of online tax-payment system and online real-time cheque encashment and payment, the treasury chalan could be made optional, not mandatory, and pay order and cheque could be continued as interim system," the member said. Taxpayers can pay tax in any of the system now, he added.
However, most of the taxpayers prefer pay-order and cheque for payment of tax due to limit of treasury chalan.
Officials said delay in depositing the paid tax with the public exchequer causes mismatch in collection data of NBR and CGA.
The government gets tax instantly if tax is paid through treasury chalan.
Officials said the NBR detected several cases of forgery over depositing taxpayers' money with the exchequer.
In an investigation, the tax authority found some pay orders deposited into another account instead of the exchequer.
Earlier, a probe body had detected that a vested quarter had pocketed money of taxpayers through pay-order forgery.
A three-member committee of income-tax officials launched the investigation following allegations of some pay-orders having gone missing and encashed under other names instead of the public exchequer.
The committee had submitted its probe report to the NBR and Bangladesh Bank (BB) with its recommendations to check such thefts.
"Both banks and tax officials were involved in that forgery of pay-orders of the taxpayers," the report was quoted as saying.
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