The revenue board has moved to accelerate settlement of pending court cases to realise a large amount of stuck-up revenue and thus offset possible shortfall in revenue collection due to political impasse, officials said.
National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman Nojibur Rahman and members concerned met the Chief Justice (CJ) on Monday to seek his support on quick disposal of tax-related cases.
Talking to the FE, NBR income tax member (legal and enforcement) Kalipada Halder said there are some 23,000 court cases, involving some Tk 260 billion income tax, customs duty and VAT.
"We have met the Chief Justice, and sought his cooperation to expedite settlement of the tax-related cases."
There are similar types of disputes, known as analogous cases, which could be resolved through one hearing to speed up the disposal process, he said.
The board is working on selection of such cases. It has also made a set of proposals, including resolving the analogous cases.
"Some 50 per cent of the income tax-related court cases might be found as analogous. The disputes could be resolved with the settlement of one or two such cases," said another tax official.
The NBR has proposed the Chief Justice to consider 'fiscal experts' at the time of appointing lawyers for the tax-related cases.
There are two courts to settle the tax-related cases, but NBR is getting support from one. The revenue board has sought cooperation to get support from both the courts, he added.
In an internal analysis, the NBR has found its Value Added Tax (VAT) Wing is crippled with the highest volume of stuck-up revenue with the pending cases. Some 2,566 cases, involving Tk 135.34 billion revenue, are now stuck up with the wing.
Customs Wing has some17,470 pending cases with Tk 48.35 billion stuck-up duty.
Some Tk 74.13 billion income tax remained stuck-up with 2,711 court cases filed by the taxpayers.
However, Income Tax Wing resolved some 305 tax-related disputes through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
The tax official also said the number of court cases cannot be brought down to zero, as taxpayers are filing new cases and writ petitions every year.
"Income tax-related disputes are not so difficult to settle, like those relating with VAT or customs, as businessmen usually file cases on legal matters," he opined.
NBR identified some common sections in the income tax ordinance, on which taxpayers usually file cases. The sections are: minimum tax for corporate taxpayers irrespective of profit and loss, re-opening tax-files under universal self-assessment system, and local letter of credit (L/C) etc.
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