NBR shy as IMF suggests joint audit in tax admin

FE Team | Published: September 06, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

FE Report
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggested Wednesday introduction of joint audit in tax administration involving the Value Added Tax (VAT) and Income Tax departments as a measure to thwart tax evasion.
The IMF made the suggestion in a meeting with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) on the day.
But, the NBR ruled out the possibility of introducing the measure saying that those two departments are independent of each other.
There is no scope of interference in each other's work, a source said.
The two-member IMF mission met with the NBR high-ups in the meeting to discuss various issues relating to tax administration.
The NBR said introduction of such a measure will require a legal authority and there is no possibility of launching the joint audit system in the perspective of the country, according to a meeting source.
He claimed that there was a smooth flow of information between the Income Tax and VAT departments.
The IMF also termed the income tax target of Tk 108.38 billion (10,838 crore) for the current fiscal 'over ambitious'.
The NBR said during the last few years the income tax collection growth was 28 per cent, but in the first two months of the current fiscal it maintained a growth of 58 per cent.