NBR out to net big fishes, not small ones

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Doulot Akter Mala
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) says it will not conduct scrutiny of the returns of marginal taxpayers to detect tax evasion.
"We'll not look for the returns of the holders of tax index number (TIN) who pay income tax up to Tk 10,000 because the government is likely to get only a negligible amount of tax from them in case of fresh scrutiny," said NBR tax policy member Ali Ahmed.
It will not be convenient for the board to involve existing limited manpower for collecting insignificant amount of revenue, he further said.
The marginal taxpayers should not be worried about the current NBR's drive against tax dodgers, Ahmed said.
The aim of the government is to find out only those big tax evaders who have remained unaccounted for or evaded large amount of taxes, he said.
The NBR, meanwhile, filed over 20 cases against the former members of parliament (MPs) for tax evasion.
The government has already jailed some of the leading politicians and their family members for evasion of taxes.
In August, the NBR froze all bank accounts and seized saving certificates of two former prime ministers and their family members.
The number of frozen accounts has, so far, stood at 150 since January 12.
The tax intelligence department also sought information about bank accounts of 500 other individuals and businesses to find out mismatch that may exist between their tax returns and income.
Besides, the board has been receiving poor response from the people despite extension of time to September 30 next for legalisation of their undisclosed income with payment of 5.0 per cent penalty.
The NBR officials said they have already collected Tk 4.45 billion in tax from the undisclosed money holders under the current drive. This is Tk 1.0 billion higher than that of the amount realised under the previous drive that had sought payment of tax at 7.5 per cent for legalisation of undisclosed income.
"The opportunity of legalising undisclosed income will expire this month and we are expecting a usual last minute rush of the undisclosed money holders," an NBR official said.