Businesses requested not to be misled by tax lawyers

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FE Report
Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Faruk Ahmed Siddiqi at a seminar Tuesday requested the businessmen to pay appropriate amount of taxes for avoiding hassles and maintain the growth momentum of their respective enterprises.
He said most businesses who avail themselves of the services of lawyers to evade taxes are not aware of the fact that tax evasion creates complications in their personal life and also in normal operation of their business entities.
"If any businessman wants to expand his business in future and wants to have a respectable place among the business community, he should pay taxes faithfully. He should not evade or keep pending his tax payment," Siddiqi said.
The SEC chief was speaking at the seminar on "Tax Planning in Business" organised by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) at its auditorium. DCCI president Hossain Khaled chaired the seminar.
Siddiqi said the businessmen of the country are frequently misled by the tax lawyers as they (lawyers) often advise the latter to evade taxes.
"But, a businessman, who evades tax can be singled out if the government wants to and the tax-lawyers in that case can hardly be of any help," he said.
He urged the government to simplify the related laws and procedures for the success of the self-assessment method.
The self-assessment method in tax realisation would never be successful if the government did not round-up the persons who mislead or misguide or provide wrong information about tax policies.
Siddiqi, who once was a tax administrator and a former commerce secretary, suggested that the government should select a particular sector or profession and assess all the returns submitted. If any discrepancy is noticed, the assessee should be given exemplary punishment. Such a step would discourage others from concealing informations or evading taxes.
He urged the government to form a team comprising professionals from different sectors to assess and inquire the tax related problems.
"Preparing an error-free financial report is very important for tax realisation. The government can take timely actions if a 'credible financial report' is prepared by any chartered accounting firm," he said while emphasising the importance of preparing a transparent financial report.
At the seminar, Hossain Khaled said Bangladesh's tax-GDP ratio is 10.5 per cent which is one of the lowest among the developing and the least developed countries.
He said only 2.1 million people pay tax in the country and the most significant feature of the Bangladesh tax scenario is its heavy dependence on indirect taxes (nearly 80 per cent).
"The total government revenue comes from VAT accounting for 38 per cent, import duty 24 per cent, supplementary duty 17 per cent, income tax 20 per cent and the rest from other sources," Hossain Khaled said.
President of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) Farhad Hossain urged the government to formulate business friendly tax laws for maintaining smooth growth of the country's business sector.