Importers to pay duties, taxes above Tk 0.2m online

Importers will have to pay duties and taxes above Tk 0.2 million online, using Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system of the commercial banks, from July 1, 2021.
As per directive of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), all of the customs stations and houses across the country will implement it in a bid to expedite release of goods.
The NBR has already introduced the e-payment module in the Ashcuda world system through using RTGS.
E-payment of duties and taxes has been made mandatory from January 1, 2022 irrespective of any amount.
To enforce the mandatory provision, the Chattogram Customs House (CCH) authority, in a recent letter to the clearing and forwarding (C&F) agents, issued some instructions on e-payment in a simplified way.
In the letter, the CCH requested the C&F agents to take necessary preparation on e-payment of duties and taxes by communicating with the banks and importers.
The importers would have to furnish some information in the RTGS form for e-payment through bank cheque.
The information include customs office code (301), bill of entry (B/E) registration year, B/E registration number, declarant code, assessed amount (total duty and taxes), and mobile phone number.
The importers or C&F agents would get payment confirmation message in the mobile number, provided in the RTGS form.
After e-payment of duties and taxes, the importers would have to complete formalities relating to delivery of products from port.
The NBR made electronic payment mandatory to facilitate faster and smoother customs duty payments for importers and exporters.
There had been an optional system of e-payment of customs duties and taxes since March 2017.
Only some large importers are now using the online payment system, while the majorities are paying manually.
The NBR introduced the e-payment system to implement Article 7.2 of the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement.
Currently, a total of 41 banks are connected to the e-payment system.
It has been alleged that some unscrupulous traders and their C&F agents evade taxes by taking advantage of the manual tax payment system through submitting forged chalans or invoices.
Customs officials said e-payment is safe, secure and faster, and any amount can be paid from any RTGS-compliant commercial bank.
The Bangladesh Bank and Sonali Bank Limited would ensure head-wise payment of duties and taxes according to bill of import.

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