The government is set to extend the deadline for individuals' tax-return submission by 15 more days until February 15 this year following a demand from taxpayers.
The time for the tax-return submission was scheduled to expire on January 31.
Official sources said the National Board of Revenue (NBR) is likely to extend the deadline for the third time, considering the ongoing volatile economic situation, political instability and stagnation in business and trade.
Tax lawyers have raised the demand for the deadline extension as many of their clients are facing difficulties in filing income tax returns due to various reasons.
Although the deadline was extended twice for two months, the expected number of returns has not been filed, taxmen told
the FE.
As per the Income Tax Act, the NBR can extend the deadline for filing tax returns by one month. Using this authority, the deadline was initially extended from November 30 to December 31. Subsequently, the government issued a notification to extend it further by another month until January 31.
However, as the desired number of returns has not yet been submitted, the government authorities have decided to grant an additional 15-day extension.
It has been learned that Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed has given the green light to NBR Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan to extend the deadline.
A notification is expected to be issued soon in this regard.
According to sub-section (b) of Section 334 of the Income Tax Act, the government can instruct the board to extend the deadline during pandemics, epidemics, natural disasters and wartime.
NBR sources revealed that as of January 25 this year, 3,398,937 individuals and companies have filed returns, generating revenue of Tk 50.09 billion.
During the same period last year, 3,248,183 returns were filed, and revenue collected was Tk 47.05 billion.
Although there has been an increase in the number of returns and revenue compared to the same period last year, the figures remain below expectations.
Due to successful campaigns and extensive publicity, the number of online returns has increased significantly.
As of January 25, 1,169,752 people submitted e-returns. Last year, over 4.3 million taxpayers filed returns. This year, the NBR has hoped to receive 05 million returns.
In some cases, filing returns online has been made mandatory.
However, the e-return system continues to pose challenges for many taxpayers. They face various issues while filing returns online and are forced to visit specific tax zones to resolve these problems.
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