NBR bins DCL's plea for waiver of dues

The revenue board has ruled out a plea for the waiver of Dhaka Club's long-pending arrears of valued-added tax (VAT) and supplementary duty (SD) worth Tk 337.43 million.
Officials of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) detected arrears of the Dhaka Club Limited (DCL) by auditing its VAT returns in 2017.
The VAT wing of the NBR, in a letter to the DCL president on March 29, 2021, said it was unable to consider their plea for the waiver of taxes.
The prestigious club placed an application to the NBR on February 25, 2021.

The letter, signed by VAT policy wing's second secretary Kazi Rezaul Hassan, said they found no scope to exempt the demanded VAT and SD as per the VAT law.
It said the demand notices for payment of due VAT were issued in line with the VAT Law-1991.
The NBR has reviewed the DCL's application as the club authorities requested not to take any legal action as per Section 56 of the law.
The DCL owes Tk 266.98 million as VAT and Tk 70.45 million as SD to the public exchequer.
Promila Sarker, additional commissioner of the Customs, Excise and VAT Commissionerate Dhaka (South), said they sent a letter to the DCL on Wednesday to inform the NBR's latest decision.
The letter has asked the club to pay the due VAT by a week, she told the FE.
"The VAT authorities will be forced to take legal action… Even it may freeze DCL's bank accounts unless it pays the dues by the next seven days."
Earlier, the NBR issued several notices to the DCL asking it to pay the dues to avoid any legal action.
Yet, the demand for VAT has remained unrealised in the past four years despite repeated attempts by the VAT authorities.
Following requests of the DCL, the NBR extended the deadlines several times during the period in question.
In a letter earlier, the VAT south zone made it clear that the realisation of the government's revenue was a legal step.
There was, therefore, no scope to linger the procedure, it cited.
The DCL sought time extension from the VAT authorities on five occasions since September 26, 2017.
The NBR sent the first show-cause letter on July 07, 2017, to the club authorities.
Later, a total of nine letters were sent to the DCL asking to pay the arrears, but the club lingered the process by seeking time extensions, officials said.
The club authorities also attended the hearing in the zone but failed to convince them on any logical ground behind the non-payment of VAT and SD.
Following a request, the NBR waived the interest amount of the DCL that accumulated over the years due to a delay in paying the VAT.
Officials said the VAT zone would seek the NBR's directive after the expiry of its seven-day deadline to take any legal action as per section 56.
As the VAT south zone rejected its application, the DCL had turned to the NBR seeking waiver of VAT and SD, they disclosed.
Despite several attempts, the FE correspondent could not reach the club's spokesperson for comment.
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