The National Board of Revenue (NBR) moves to examine authenticity of SIM replacement by four mobile-phone operators in a bid to check tax evasion, as a big amount already remained tucked under disputes.
Officials said the Value Added Tax (VAT) wing of the NBR recently decided to form a five-member committee to recheck the SIM (Subscriber Identification Module) replacement data that the phone companies furnished in their tax returns.
The NBR has instructed its Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) to form the body to review the information furnished by Grameenphone Ltd, Axiata Bangladesh Ltd (Robi), Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Ltd and Airtel Bangladesh Ltd.
Following the instruction, the LTU decided to form the committee comprising representatives from the VAT wing, Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC), the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) and mobile-phone operators.
In a recent letter, LTU commissioner Shanaz Parveen requested the Board to determine the working area of the committee.
Talking to the FE, a senior VAT official said there is a scope to show new SIM registration as SIM replacement to dodge payment of tax.
Earlier, there was a tax of Tk 300 on sale of new a SIM card while no tax was levied on SIM replacement.
"The body is set to review the data on sales of new SIM and SIM replacement by the cell-phone companies," the official said.
In the current financial year (FY), the government has reduced the tax on new SIM to Tk 100. The amount is applicable to both new SIM and replacement of SIM.
Earlier, the NBR in an investigation had found the phone companies having shown a significant number of new SIM cards as replacement cards.
There is a longstanding dispute over the SIM-replacement issue between the NBR and the mobile-phone operators. The dispute between the tax authority and the phone operators arose in 2012 when a substantial amount of SIM tax was sought from the latter.
The NBR claimed some Tk 30.12 billion in SIM tax from the phone firms.
According to an NBR report, Grameenphone is liable to pay Tk 15.62 billion, Banglalink Tk 7.62 billion, Robi Tk 6.47 billion and Airtel Tk 0.39 billion to the exchequer in SIM tax.
Taxmen demanded the tax by claiming that the cell-phone operators had sold SIM cards to new subscribers in 2007-2011 period but showed those as replacement cards. However, the operators claimed those as replacement cards.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
