The revenue board has sought help from the government to realise Tk 212 billion in VAT and SD arrears from Petrobangla, officials said.
"It is very urgent to pay outstanding dues for achieving the revenue target," Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said in a letter sent to the finance ministry last week.
He has also sought cooperation and allocation to pay outstanding dues of the NBR, the letter mentioned.
Over last several months, the revenue board was trying to realise Value Added Tax (VAT) and Supplementary Duty (SD), which had remained unpaid for long, from state-run Petrobangla.
The NBR has recently sought the finance division's help in realising outstanding dues, an official said.
Despite the government's efforts to realise Tk 212 billion in arrears from Petrobangla, no significant progress has yet been made. So, the revenue board has urged the finance ministry to take necessary steps in this regard, a high official said.
In March 2017, a meeting was held to review outstanding dues of Petrobangla. Chaired by the finance minister, the meeting was attended by the senior secretary of the finance division, the NBR chairman and other high officials concerned.
The meeting decided to recover a hefty amount of revenue stuck up with Petrobangla through book adjustment gradually.
The finance division will take steps to recover NBR dues as Value Added Tax through required allocation. Besides, it will take measures to give allocation against the price gap of Petrobangla.
The government is trying to recover the hefty amount of tax revenue stuck up with the state-run corporation and different moves have been taken to deal with the matter following a row over the payment of such a large amount of revenue, a finance division high official said.
Last year Petrobangla sought subsidy from Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) while EMRD asked for an allocation as subsidy in favour of Petrobangla.
The government provided Petrobangla with Tk 10 billion for payment of outstanding VAT and SD. Later, the amount was paid to the revenue board in October, 2017 and deposited to Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU), VAT.
State-run Petrobangla owes over Tk 212 billion to NBR as VAT and SD without interest collected from clients concerned from the fiscal year (FY) 2009-10 to June 2017, but they didn't deposit the money with the public exchequer, according to NBR.
Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd, Jalalabad Gas Transmission and Distribution System Ltd, Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Company Ltd and Karnaphuli Gas Transmission and Distribution Company supply gas to their respective customers from international oil company (IOC) at government-fixed prices.
Talking to the FE, a NBR official said, "LTU thinks that a big chunk of VAT/SD remains pending with the four gas-distribution companies. So, NBR has sought help from the finance ministry to realise unpaid VAT."
Petrobangla markets gas to different customers through its marketing outfits. The companies collect VAT and SD along with the prices of gas from the clients, according to Petrobangla.
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