Finance ministry troubled by revenue figures mismatch

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Shakhawat Hossain
Existing tax refund system in the country's Income Tax and the Customs rules is giving rise to inaccuracies in the annual revenue figures maintained separately by the finance ministry and the revenue board, officials said Saturday.
"There is a big difference between revenue figures maintained by the revenue board and the finance ministry," said an official source.
The difference in revenue figures involving no less than Tk 20 billion in the last fiscal year is attributed to the existing tax refund system in the country's Income Tax and the Customs rules.
"The mismatch is putting the fiscal management under serious stress," said the official.
A substantial amount of tax has to be refunded later to the taxpayers which is shown in the annual earnings by the National Revenue Board (NBR). The gap has been detected while examining the figures mentioned by the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
The CAG calculation includes the tax refund, added the official.
NBR chairman Abdul Mazid said they have already taken number of steps to reduce the difference.
"During the last one year the revenue board has taken the issue seriously and brought changes in calculation method on refund," he said.
Finance ministry is, however, not convinced by the NBR move.
A meeting, chaired by finance secretary, last month assigned a joint secretary to prepare a report with suggestions to overcome the problems.
The report will be placed to the finance and planning adviser for further actions as the ministry is facing problems in its fiscal management.
The NBR chairman welcomed the move saying the board had no problems to follow the suggestions and cooperate with the finance ministry.