A task force constituted by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has decided to visit some 15 organisations in the capital aiming to detect tax evasion by their foreign workers through concealment of their actual incomes.
Employers of the companies would be held responsible in case of detection of tax-related irregularities, tax officials said.
A 12-member regional task force of Dhaka division would conduct the drive. Top taxmen, tax commissioners and representative of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) are the members of the task force.
The drive is aimed at collecting due taxes from the foreign workers in Bangladesh and their employers and penalise them.
Initially, a subcommittee under the task force selected some 286 foreign companies to prepare a database of the foreigners and fill information forms.
Currently, the tax authority does not have any database on how many foreigners are now working in Bangladesh.
As per tax officials, some 12,000 foreign nationals have tax files under the income tax zones under the NBR. Of them, 8,000 file tax returns annually.
A senior tax official said the decision to conduct field visit has been taken in a recent meeting of the task force to ensure tax compliance by the foreign nationals in Bangladesh.
The task force will inspect the companies at a specific time after obtaining permission from the NBR high-ups, he said.
In the task force meeting, taxmen suggested considering signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Special Branch (SB) of Police or the Ministry of Home before conducting such field visit.
Officials who attended the meeting said coordination with the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA), Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) is important to know about actual salaries of foreign workers in Bangladesh.
The task force will also collect detailed information about the foreign nationals by sending request letters to BIDA, the meeting decided.
The team will also request the NBR to take necessary steps to sign a MoU with the SB or the home ministry to collect information about the foreigners, it decided.
Officials who attended the meeting said inspection of the business premises will be conducted in presence of representatives of FBCCI.
They said the task force has a plan to conduct the field visit by January 21 during the 'enforcement month' of NBR.
Under the existing income tax ordinance, foreign nationals have to pay 30 per cent income tax on their annual incomes. However, they do not enjoy any tax-free ceiling like Bangladeshi citizens.
A foreign national needs to open tax file if he/she lives in the country for three months or 90 days a year.
They also have to present their tax-clearance certificates from the NBR while crossing the immigration check-posts before leaving the country.
Last year, the government incorporated some provisions in tax laws to check tax evasion by foreign nationals that came into effect on July 01, 2015.
Taxmen can penalise the employers if they recruit unauthorised foreign workers.
The government can slap 50 per cent additional tax or Tk 0.5 million (whichever is higher) on the persons or entities employing unauthorised foreigners.
Tax holiday and other tax-exemption facilities would be cancelled along with prosecution and punishment for these unscrupulous entities engaged in such unlawful acts.
The majority of the foreign nationals in Bangladesh are from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and China, according to official count.
There are widespread allegations that some employers hire foreign experts unnecessarily without exploring local sources available at lower expenditure.
Taxmen also smelt motive of tax dodging on the process of hiring and payment to the foreign employees by the employers.
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