Revenue authorities may seek help of the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) to hold up salary of the taxable government employees who fail to submit tax returns by the November 30, 2016 deadline.
The income-tax wing of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) is contemplating requesting the CGA office after expiry of the deadline to discontinue the salary payment as a penal measure stipulated in the income-tax law for non-submission of tax returns, said a senior income-tax official.
Employees of government, semi-government and autonomous entities may get into difficulty in withdrawing their salary from December and onwards in case of failure in submission of income-tax returns, officials said.
In the budget for the current fiscal year, the government made submission of tax returns mandatory for the employees working in government, semi-government and autonomous bodies and drawing Tk 16,000 as monthly salary in the lowest slab.
The senior income-tax official cited the Income Tax Ordinance 1984 that provides for bank attachment and salary attachment as punitive measures against failure in submission of tax returns.
However, the provision of salary attachment is a less- applied penalty by the Deputy Commissioner of taxes (DCTs).
The government has focused increasing receipts of payroll tax as it contributes 4.0 to 5.0 per cent of the at-source tax. It is 30 per cent in developed countries.
"The number of individual taxpayers from among government employees would jump significantly this year as their salary income increased with the hike in national pay scale," the official said.
An additional 135,000 public servants may come under income-tax net in the current FY because of the implementation of the Pay Scale 2015, NBR officials estimate.
The NBR estimation shows around 65,000 Class-I officers from grade nine to above and around 70,000 Class-II officers up to the grade 10 will have to pay income tax from the FY 2016-2017 as their salaries exceeded the tax-free income limit of Tk 250,000 on the back of the pay hike.
Government employees started receiving substantially higher basic salary under the Pay Scale 2015 from January this year with arrears accumulated from July 2015.
The new pay scale came into force from this past July.
Earlier, some 75,000 Class-I officers of the government used to pay income tax on their basic pay, bonus and festival allowances.
The other allowances they receive as perks with their salary, including house rent and conveyance, are exempt from the ambit of income tax.
The government officials' basic-salary incomes have been made taxable since 2011.
In 2015, the NBR included festival allowance and bonus in the tax bundle and made deduction of the tax at source mandatory.
   doulot_akter@yahoo.com
NBR may want employees\' salary put on hold
Doulot Akter Mala | Published: October 25, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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