NBR opens wings to detect tax evasion

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has recently opened intelligence wings in all of its field level income tax offices, setting a target of finding out at least one tax dodger in every month in their respective areas of operation. The opening of intelligence wings is part of intensified efforts to find out tax-evaders. According to a recent study of the Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), the country lost 3.0 per cent of the GDP on account of tax evasion in 2009-2010, which is again 34 per cent of the total tax collected in the year. An NBR study said less than 1.0 per cent of the population pays income tax. Currently, only less than 1.0 million people submit annual tax returns including government officials, who get refund of the paid tax, and taxpayers submitting nil-returns. The NBR Monday held an evaluation meeting with all the commissioners of the income tax department to scrutinise the revenue collection trend and activities of the intelligence wings. "We have found significant amount of evaded tax that has been detected by cross-checking import data and information furnished in income tax files of the taxpayers," said a senior income tax official. Tax offices have collected import data from the customs wing and matched the same with the income tax files of importers, he said. The tax officials have found some importers concealing information in the tax files by showing false figures of import, he said. Intelligence wings of the field offices also collected account information of some big shots from banks and their house property, the official said. "We have found the tax offices already detected a total of 15 cases of tax-evasion," the official said. He said income tax wing will give all-out efforts in the last week of the current fiscal to meet revenue collection target by chasing tax evaders. Tax collection at source is also being monitored intensively to plug revenue leakage, he added. In the current fiscal, the government revised the revenue target upward by Tk 30 billion. Of the target, income tax wing will have to collect additional Tk 11 billion while other two wings Tk 19 billion. "We are close to the revised target. The income tax department is hopeful of achieving the target in the current year as income tax collection posted 32 per cent growth so far," the official said. Income tax collection for upcoming fiscal has been set at Tk 275.61 billion against Tk 221.05 billion in the current year.