NBR proposes recovery of evaded tax from seized property

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Doulot Akter Mala
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is contemplating realisation of the amounts equivalents to tax evaded from property seized by it.
The NBR will soon send a proposal to the government for taking measures to realise outstanding tax from the sale proceeds of the property seized by it after fulfilling legal obligations.
"We are working on realisation of tax from the seized property as the board has filed tax evasion cases for dodging tax," said the NBR chairman Badiur Rahman.
The board has filed cases against evasion of a large amount of tax. So it (NBR) should get its tax evaded by taxpayers from the seized property, he said.
The NBR is yet to calculate the amount of tax due on account of tax evasion while tax rate might be determined as per existing income tax law or as per court's order, he said.
The government has seized property worth around Tk 512.8 million (51.24 crore) belonging to politicians and businessmen on the charges of tax evasion.
The board Wednesday gave sanction to filing of seven cases against tax evaders, the NBR chief said.
"The NBR earlier gave sanctions to the filing of about 39 cases, of which 31 cases have already been filed," he said.
Of the cases, verdict has been delivered against 21 cases; eight are under process and the High Court served stay orders on the three cases.
The NBR has the authority to issue order to the banks for freezing bank accounts and seize saving tools to determine whether there is any gap between tax returns and actual wealth.
The government, however, seized property of tax evaders under emergency power rules, sources said.
The NBR chairman said: "It is a continuous process to freeze and search for suspicious bank accounts."
But, the NBR will prefer amicable settlement rather than filing cases against tax evaders, he said.
The government has seized property of leading businessmen and politicians on the basis of NBR's tax evasion cases. But, the NBR is yet to estimate the total amount of evaded tax, for which the cases have been filed, sources said.
Sources said the seized property would be in government's custody until the cases are settled in the court. If the accused person shows sufficient evidence about legality of their wealth through appeal in the HC, the government will return the seized property.