Spot assessment of small taxpayers from next fiscal

FE Team | Published: May 13, 2010 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Doulot Akter Mala
The government is set to go for spot assessment of marginal taxpayers in a bid to make income tax payment easier and at the same time expand the tax net within the shortest possible time.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is planning to introduce the new system from the upcoming fiscal as it aims to net additional 1.0 million taxpayers by 2011-2012.
There will be a separate tax return form for small taxpayers which they would fill up on the spot with the help of the taxmen, said a senior tax official.
Taxmen will go to the working places and business houses of small and petty tax payers to conduct spot assessment and collect the tax, he said.
They will collect the minimum payable tax from the petty businessmen for the first year and reassess the tax information from the following years, he added.
"Taxpayers will enjoy this facility for the first two years. After that they will pay tax through routine assessment," he said.
Usually, small taxpayers find it difficult to fill up the tax return form that seeks various information most of which are not related to small businesses.
Fear factor also discourages a number of taxpayers to visit tax offices as they apprehend harassment by taxmen and slapping of heavy taxes.
The revenue board has also received a number of complaints about harassment by taxmen. It has also found that filling up tax return forms seems complex to most of the taxpayers.
Earlier, the NBR chairman in a programme also hinted on the new measure to bring more marginal taxpayers under the tax net.
The country's apex chamber body Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) in its budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal has provided a detailed work-plan to introduce the 'spot assessment' system for expansion of tax net.
FBCCI has said the government can net 0.5 million new taxpayers and collect additional Tk 1.0 billion tax if it can implement the plan.