NBR to consider monthly VAT payment system for physicians

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FE Report
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will consider introduction of a specific amount of Value Added Tax (VAT) for physicians to reduce the hassle in payment of tax collected from the fees paid by patients. The existing rate of VAT is 4.5 per cent.
"We will examine introduction of truncated base VAT on the basis of the number of patients attended to by the physicians concerned," NBR Chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid said at a motivational programme organised Thursday by the Taxes Zone-8 of the NBR at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) in the city.
If introduced, the new system will help the physicians pay the VAT on fees collected from the patients in a voucher every month.
The NBR chairman said: "There is a scope to reform the VAT rules. I am assuring you of eliminating the procedural complexities in payment of VAT."
The NBR will hold talks with representatives of physicians about simplification of the procedures, he said.
The NBR chief made the comments following requests made by the physicians at the programme in this regard.
They termed the procedures of charging VAT on visiting fees paid by patients 'illogical' and requested the revenue board to waive the provision.
The NBR chairman said: "VAT is not directed at any specific section of people. It is applicable to all. But the method of paying VAT could be simplified to make it hassle-free."
Professor Shahadat Hossain, chief of the biochemistry department, said: "Medical service is not a product that patients are purchasing paying VAT. It should be eliminated."
The government in the fiscal 2007-08 introduced the VAT at a rate of 4.5 per cent on the visiting fees paid by patients.
In the programme, the NBR chairman underscored the need for declaring undisclosed income to avoid further scrutiny and being questioned by the taxmen.
"In the last two years all the cases were filed relating to undisclosed income, producing fake wealth statements and evasion of income tax," he said urging undisclosed money holders to seize the existing opportunity.
Margub Hossain, chief of surgery department, said: "The government should take steps to bridge the gap between taxpayers and taxmen. The taxmen should have faith in information paid by the taxpayers."
Responding to his comments, the NBR chairman said: "The revenue board last year curtailed the discretionary power of taxmen. It has introduced a universal self-assessment method, under which the taxmen will accept whatever tax declared by the taxpayer."
The concerned tax official will have to obtain permission of the NBR if he/she wants to scrutinise the tax file in line with the requirement of any government agency, he added.
He also informed that the NBR took some moves to ease the procedures of tax return submission. The steps include opening of some temporary tax payment booths at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Uttara and Old Dhaka.
It is wise to file one's tax return on one's own rather than depending on a third person, he added.
He also made it clear that all TIN (taxpayer identification number) holders must have to submit tax returns whether he/she has any taxable income or not for the tax year.