Court cases block realisation of Tk 17.08b income tax

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Doulot Akter Mala
A total of Tk 17.08 billion worth of income tax is now stuck up due to a large number of unresolved reference cases and writ petitions.
It has been revealed in a recent position paper of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
The number reference cases rose recently due to non-cooperation of income taxpayers blocking realisation of a large amount of tax revenue.
According to the paper, the number of writ petitions also increased as some of the taxpayers showed reluctance in payment of tax.
While talking to the FE, NBR chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid said: "I have taken enough measures to realise the stuck up tax revenue as soon as possible."
But he declined to explain the measures taken by the board on realisation of the blocked revenue for the sake of further investigation.
Sources said the NBR usually refers income tax related cases to the High Court when taxpayers refuse to accept NBR decisions.
There is also a large number of reference cases piled up in the court as taxpayers are reluctant to resolve them.
The NBR sources said 233 writ petitions held up realisation of Tk 5.80 billion and 1347 reference cases are responsible for the stuck-up of Tk 11.27 billion in income tax revenue.
A total of Tk 3.54 billion are now stuck up in Dhaka tax zone-5, Tk 3.41 billion in Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) Dhaka and Tk 3.32 in Dhaka tax zone-7 on account of both writ petitions and reference cases.
The highest number of 32 writ petitions is with Dhaka tax zone-7 while highest 248 reference cases are with tax zone-3.
Sources said the NBR should expedite the procedure to realise the huge amount of unpaid taxes to boost tax revenue collection.
The income tax collection target was set at Tk 108.38 billion for the current fiscal.
Of the amount, the board already received tax worth Tk 7.39 billion from individual taxpayers.