Govt plans income tax offices in 110 more upazilas to net in left-out taxpayers
Doulot Akter Mala | Wednesday, 23 July 2008
The government is drawing a plan to expand the income tax department to 110 more upazilas of the country to net in the marginal taxpayers left out across the country, officials said.
There are only 303 circle offices in seven upazilas in the country. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is taking a move to double the number of field offices to 684 to reach the doorsteps of taxpayers.
A proposal of the NBR containing the plan of major expansion of the income tax department is now awaiting the Finance Adviser's nod.
Officials said the Finance Adviser has given a green signal to expansion of the income tax department, considering its necessity to increase the income tax collection and the tax base.
In his budget speech also he hinted at expansion of the income tax department to boost revenue collection.
The revenue board in its internal board meeting Tuesday also discussed the way of executing the plan.
Presently, each tax field office has to deal with tax files of minimum 10,000 taxpayers, while it is not possible for a tax office to handle more than 2,000 tax return files, tax officials said.
Absence of logistic support and infrastructure is hindering the actual growth in income tax collection, they observed.
Since 1992, there has been no expansion of income tax offices despite a significant increase in the number of taxpayers.
Expansion of the income tax department is necessary against the backdrop of the increasing target, a tax commissioner said.
In 1993, the target of income tax collection was Tk 17 billion (1700 crore). The target has increased to Tk 108.38 billion in 2008, though the manpower and the number of tax offices are remaining the same, he added.
Referring to an estimate, the tax official said the government needs to invest nearly Tk 0.5 million (5 lakh) to establish a new tax circle office while it could collect minimum Tk 10 million from such an office.
Only a single tax office, especially in a district town, deals with a large area of taxpayers. For this reason, a number of taxpayers remain out of the tax net despite having taxable income and also willing to pay tax.
Income tax officials expressed their hope that the proposal would be implemented as soon as possible as the government has set a comparatively higher revenue target focusing on direct tax.
NBR insiders said procedural delay, caused by the Establishment Ministry, often delayed a number of major initiatives of the NBR despite approval of the finance ministry.
They expressed their hope that the government would speed up the initiative for enhancing the tax base in the current fiscal.
The government has set an income tax collection target of Tk 130.57 billion, which is 24 per cent of the aggregate revenue collection target of Tk 545 billion.
However, the NBR was able to maintain a robust 35 per cent growth in income tax collection in the just-concluded fiscal, thanks to Tk 8.02 billion mopped up in taxes from undisclosed incomes.
NBR insiders sounded optimistic on achieving the target of income tax collection in the current fiscal year as the government has announced some major fiscal measures to enhance the growth in income tax collection.
There are only 303 circle offices in seven upazilas in the country. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is taking a move to double the number of field offices to 684 to reach the doorsteps of taxpayers.
A proposal of the NBR containing the plan of major expansion of the income tax department is now awaiting the Finance Adviser's nod.
Officials said the Finance Adviser has given a green signal to expansion of the income tax department, considering its necessity to increase the income tax collection and the tax base.
In his budget speech also he hinted at expansion of the income tax department to boost revenue collection.
The revenue board in its internal board meeting Tuesday also discussed the way of executing the plan.
Presently, each tax field office has to deal with tax files of minimum 10,000 taxpayers, while it is not possible for a tax office to handle more than 2,000 tax return files, tax officials said.
Absence of logistic support and infrastructure is hindering the actual growth in income tax collection, they observed.
Since 1992, there has been no expansion of income tax offices despite a significant increase in the number of taxpayers.
Expansion of the income tax department is necessary against the backdrop of the increasing target, a tax commissioner said.
In 1993, the target of income tax collection was Tk 17 billion (1700 crore). The target has increased to Tk 108.38 billion in 2008, though the manpower and the number of tax offices are remaining the same, he added.
Referring to an estimate, the tax official said the government needs to invest nearly Tk 0.5 million (5 lakh) to establish a new tax circle office while it could collect minimum Tk 10 million from such an office.
Only a single tax office, especially in a district town, deals with a large area of taxpayers. For this reason, a number of taxpayers remain out of the tax net despite having taxable income and also willing to pay tax.
Income tax officials expressed their hope that the proposal would be implemented as soon as possible as the government has set a comparatively higher revenue target focusing on direct tax.
NBR insiders said procedural delay, caused by the Establishment Ministry, often delayed a number of major initiatives of the NBR despite approval of the finance ministry.
They expressed their hope that the government would speed up the initiative for enhancing the tax base in the current fiscal.
The government has set an income tax collection target of Tk 130.57 billion, which is 24 per cent of the aggregate revenue collection target of Tk 545 billion.
However, the NBR was able to maintain a robust 35 per cent growth in income tax collection in the just-concluded fiscal, thanks to Tk 8.02 billion mopped up in taxes from undisclosed incomes.
NBR insiders sounded optimistic on achieving the target of income tax collection in the current fiscal year as the government has announced some major fiscal measures to enhance the growth in income tax collection.