Move to integrate importers\' TIN with Asycuda system

The revenue authority has taken a move to integrate taxpayers' identification number (TIN) with the Asycuda world system to make the number mandatory in a bill of entry.
With the incorporation, the income tax authority can crosscheck importers' furnished information in the tax files.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will request the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to incorporate a provision under which TIN should be furnished in the bill of entry.
Following proposal of the income tax wing, the NBR has initiated the move so that income tax and customs wing can work in a coordinated way.
A mission of the UNCTAD is expected to arrive in February to support the NBR in integrating TIN with the Asycuda world system of customs, said a senior official of the NBR.
Currently, importers have to furnish 54 types of information in a bill of entry including Business Identification Number (BIN) and Import Registration Certificate (IRC).
The authority has decided to include TIN in the bill of entry to facilitate scrutiny of tax files.
The NBR is issuing electronic TIN online. People can obtain the income tax registration through online which is integrated with the National Identity Card number.
Number of TIN holders has currently surpassed 2.5 million.
It has been alleged that many of the big importers concealed actual import data in their income tax files.
Income tax officials cannot trace or cross-check their import data due to absence of TIN in the bill of entry.
This has been recognised as one of big holes of revenue leakage from the large taxpayers.
Talking to the FE, several income tax officials in field-level tax offices said the initiative would help them detect concealment of actual income by big importers.
"We cannot know the actual volume of import from the tax files. Income tax officials can search tax files of importers through TIN number," said a senior tax official.
Tax officials can know the volume of imports, letter of credit (L/C) opening data and volume of tax-exempted products, he said.
"In most of the cases, importers show import of products under which they have already paid at source at import stage so that they can claim tax rebate," he said.
Many importers hide tax-exempted goods that they import and sell in local market which is an income- generating activity, he added.  
Manzur Ahmed, adviser to the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), hailed the move and acknowledged the allegation in the absence of digitisation.
"There is no debate on this issue. It is important to furnish sufficient information in the bill of entry to facilitate digitisation," he told the FE Monday.
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