The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has instructed its field-level tax offices to compile a list of non-filer taxpayers who have submitted tax returns last year but yet to respond this year.
Income tax wing recently forwarded letters to all field-level tax offices, asking them to send their respective lists of individual taxpayers to the board within the shortest possible time.
However, individual taxpayers who have submitted time petitions or already submitted tax returns with due tax will not be put on the list.
"Tax offices will cross-check the number of tax returns with the previous year's data. They will find out those who have submitted tax returns in 2015-16," said a senior income tax official.
It would be easier to follow up the individual taxpayers who failed to submit tax returns in FY 2016-17, he added.
As per existing income tax law, individual taxpayers who have failed to submit tax returns within the deadline or submitted time petitions have to pay 2.0 per cent penal tax for failure in submission of tax returns within the deadline that expired on November 30, 2016.
The tax authority expects that the number of taxpayers would increase significantly in the current FY and onwards. The number of online Taxpayers Identification Number (e-TIN)-holders has increased to 2.5 million in recent times.
Tax officials said the tax authority needs adequate logistics and manpower to deal with the increased number of taxpayers.
"It would be difficult for the income tax administration to handle 2.5 million income tax returns with the existing logistic support and manpower," said a NBR official.
He stressed the need for imparting advanced technology, automate the income tax department and recruit adequate manpower for smooth operation of the income tax wing.
In FY 2016-17, submission of individuals' tax returns increased by 40 per cent within the deadline compared to that of the corresponding period last year.
Some 1,144,497 individual taxpayers submitted their tax returns within the deadline compared to that of 815,483 individual taxpayers in the corresponding period.
However, the number of total individuals' tax returns was 1.1 million last year.
The NBR eyes 1.6 million tax returns from individual taxpayers this year.
Some 151,889 individual taxpayers submitted applications to the deputy commissioner of taxes (DCTs), seeking additional time.
The NBR for the first time this year kept the deadline for submission of individuals tax return unchanged as a provision has been incorporated in the income tax law in this regard.
The NBR received a total of Tk 33.35 billion income tax against the tax returns submitted within the deadline.
Of the amount, some 65.72 per cent of income tax was collected from the tax fairs held from November 1-7, 2016.
Of the total tax returns, the NBR received 149,598 tax returns in the income tax fair-2016 and collected Tk 21.92 billion as income tax.
In the income tax week, observed from November 24-30, some 311,997 individual taxpayers submitted their tax returns with Tk 6.14 billion income tax.
Some 639 tax circle offices across the country have received 637,902 tax returns with Tk 5.28 billion income tax from July 1 to November 30, 2016.
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