New income tax law to be drafted this yr

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FE Report
The government is set to prepare the draft of a new income tax law in the current fiscal to make it simple for the taxpayers.
After its enactment in parliament the new law will replace the existing one.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has formed a panel of experts with the representation of private sector to prepare a draft income tax law by December next.
The eight-member panel, headed by tax policy head Aminur Rahman, will prepare the draft.
The new law is expected to come into effect from the current fiscal, said tax policy member Aminur Rahman.
"We hope the first draft of the law will be prepared by December next," he said.
The panel of experts includes representatives of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), City Bank NA, tax expert of Dhaka university, a chartered accountant and senior income tax officials.
The law will be prepared in Bengali to make it understandable to all people. All kinds of complexities will be resolved so that general people can clearly understand the income tax law.
People often complain that complexity in the income tax law is one of the major reasons of poor tax-GDP ratio in the country.
It has been found that people avoid tax department as they find the income tax law too complex to understand.
Finance minister AMA Muhith in his budget speech also underscored the need to introduce a new income tax law within a short time.
The number of income taxpayers is only 0.7 million out of 2.4 million taxpayers identification number (TIN). The government aims to focus on income tax collection as import duty collection is declining fast with the globalization.
The government has set Tk 210 billion target for the income tax department for 2010-2011 fiscal which is 29 per cent of total tax revenue budget.