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Tax fair fetches record Tk 26.13b

FE REPORT | November 21, 2019 00:00:00


A tax official helping a man file his tax return at the Tax Fair at the Officers Club in the city on its concluding day on Wednesday — FE photo

The country-wide income tax fair concluded on Wednesday with record revenue collection worth Tk 26.13 billion and 6,55,000 income tax returns.

Last year, the NBR received 4,87,573 tax returns and income tax worth Tk 24.68 billion from tax fair.

On the concluding day, there was huge enthusiasm among the taxpayers to submit the returns.

Some 21 banks, non-banking financial institutions and insurance companies, under the Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU), paid Tk 2.93 billion taxes at the tax fair on Wednesday.

Visiting at the Officers Club premises in Dhaka, it was found most of the marginal taxpayers came in the tax fair to avoid hassle at the tax offices.

A number of women and young taxpayers also thronged the tax fairs for submitting tax returns.

Talking to the FE, many of the taxpayers said they want similar services and online facility for submission of tax returns.

E-payment system through mobile financial services such as bKash, Nagad, Rocket, SurePay also expedited the tax payment process at the fair.

Md Azhar Ali, a retired banker, said such hassle-free tax payment and tax return submission facility would encourage people to pay tax.

"We hope the tax offices would also provide similar services to the taxpayers," he added.

Mr Ali has been paying taxes and submitting tax returns in the tax fairs for three consecutive years.

He alleged that before coming in the tax fair he had to pay 'speed money' in the tax offices to submit tax returns.

Mamun Rahman, a young taxpayer and service holder, said the government should digitise the tax return submission process to materialise its vision of 'Digital Bangladesh-2021'.

Visiting tax offices or tax fairs amid huge crowd is a troublesome job for taxpayers, he said.

The government should limit the physical visit to make the tax department free from corruption, he added.

Sultana Khan, a school teacher, appreciated the tax fair organisers for their relentless efforts to provide better services to the taxpayers.

She said tax payment, return submission and other tax-related facility under one-roof reduces hassle of payment of taxes.

Tax fair first started in 2010 collecting Tk 1.13 billion and 52,638 tax returns.

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