Larger number of taxpayers going to get tax cards

A larger number of taxpayers are going to get tax card as a status symbol under a changed policy that would encompass far more fields of contribution, officials said.    
Under the move to award as more taxpayers as possible the tax authority has decided to revise the tax-card policy.
A panel has been formed for the recast, through which taxpayers' categorizing will be down as per profession, age, business, services and so for their contribution to the public exchequer.
The income-tax wing of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has formed a six-member committee to prepare a draft of the tax-card policy through amendment to the existing one framed in 2010.
Income tax policy member Parvez Iqbal is the convener of the committee that also comprises tax commissioner Sanjit Kumar Biswas, additional commissioner GM Abul Kalam Kaikobad, first secretaries Md Shamimur Rahman and Md Shabbir Ahmad and second secretary Md Zahedul Islam.
The committee will submit its report by March 31 to NBR member for income tax administration and human resource management Md Abdur Razzaque.
Officials said the move has been taken at the instruction of NBR chairman Md Nojibur Rahman.
The committee will also prepare a draft list of some 101 individual highest taxpayers, 101 women taxpayers and 101 young taxpayers aged below 40.
In the budget for 2010-11, the finance minister unveiled a plan to honour individual and corporate taxpayers with tax card. Following the declaration, the NBR framed the "National Tax Card Policy-2010" and provided tax cards to 10 individual and 10 corporate taxpayers from across the country every year from 2009 to 2015.
The NBR conducted an analysis of the existing list of the tax-card winners to review the policy, officials said.
"In a review, it has been found that most of the tax-card winners are government organisations or taxpayers who paid tax at source. Limited companies or multinational companies are not getting the honour of tax card," said a senior tax official.
"Many industrial entrepreneurs are contributing a significant amount of income tax to the public exchequer but being deprived of the tax card due to faulty policy," he said.
Manufacturing industries and service-providing companies also cannot be enlisted as nominees for tax-card awards, he added.
Although the category is yet to be finalised, there may be separate category for banks and financial institutions, government organizations and corporations, manufacturing companies, service sectors, women entrepreneurs, senior citizens, small and medium enterprises (SME).
There may be separate category for professionals like lawyers, physicians, chartered accountants, consultants etc.
For tax year 2014-15, US oil company Chevron Bangladesh bagged the first position among the corporate taxpayers for receiving 'tax card'. Chevron was followed by Karnaphully Fertiliser Company Ltd (KAFCO) and Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (IDCOL), Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA), Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (BAPEX), Toma Construction, Central Depositary Bangladesh Limited (CDBL), Commercial Bank of Ceylon, the Security Printing Corporation and Uttara Finance and Investment Limited.
State-owned Petrobangla pays tax on behalf of Chevron as per Production Sharing Contract (PSC) with government.
Among the individual tax-card winners, Hazi Md Kaus Mia paid Tk 280 million to be adjudged highest individual taxpayer.
Wife, son and daughters of Dr MM Amjad Hussain are among the top ten individual taxpayers on the basis of payment of income tax.
Mohammad Yusuf, Rubaiyat Farzana Hussain, Laila Hussain, Hosne Ara Hussain, MA Haider Hussain and family members of late Dr MM Amjad Hussain are among the top-ten taxpayers.
Khwaza Tajmahal, wife of Dr MM Amjad Hussain, is also among the top individual taxpayers.
M. A Haider Hussain, younger son of Dr MM Amjad Hussain, is in the seventh position among the top ten.
Golam Dastagir Gazi, Chairman of Gazi Group, who is a Bir Pratik and Member of Parliament from Narayanganj-1(Rupganj), received tax card.
Md Nasir Uddin of Chittagong and Abdul Muktadir of Dhaka are also on the list of top individual taxpayers in FY 2014-15.
Tax card is a status token with which top taxpayers can enjoy some privileges, including invitation to state programmes, priority treatment in government hospitals, airlines and other public transports.
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