NBR determined to take stern action against tax evaders
Thursday, 20 November 2008
FE Report
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) said Wednesday it is determined to take stern action against the tax evaders, but it will maintain caution to avoid creating any panic in businesses.
"We will take stern action against the tax evaders as per existing lists without affecting business activities," said NBR chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid at a press briefing Wednesday.
The NBR has formed a team comprising inspection, survey and intelligence cells to net the tax evaders, he said.
"The NBR team is now scrutinising the tax statements of wealthy persons, who have private cars, land or credit cards. It might ask high earning private schools and colleges to pay tax by cheque," the NBR chief said.
The revenue board is trying to create a psychological pressure on big taxpayers so that they come to revenue board before persuasion by taxmen, he said.
When asked about checking tax payment status of candidates contesting in upcoming polls, the NBR chairman said: "We have already prepared all tax related documents of the candidates. The NBR will give those to the concerned government agency when required."
Tax defaulters are barred to contest the polls under the existing laws. It is a regular job of revenue board to provide tax related information about the election candidates to the EC.
"We are cross-checking the TIN of the members of different clubs and organisations to find out fake TIN holders," he said.
The number of TIN holders stood at 2.2 millions until October 31. Of them, 93,759 new TIN holders were registered during the motivational campaign to net new taxpayers in February-October period.
The NBR, for the first time this year, has revised the statistics of TIN holders. It has cancelled 39,854 fake or duplicate TINs.
The NBR chairman said: "The board is yet to issue all TINs to the people under survey. I have given instruction to all tax offices for issuance of TIN to all surveyed people in business houses by next one month."
Until now, only 17,418 persons have obtained TIN under the survey that found 0.10 million new taxpayers.
The NBR teams will look for tax dodgers in various sectors and organisations, but it will approach self-motivated new taxpayers with politeness, the NBR chairman said.
On the impact of global economic slowdown Mr Mazid said if the crisis persists for long there might be an adverse impact on the country's revenue earnings.
"Earnings from import duty will certainly decline with the downward trend of commodity prices in the international market. The collection from Value Added Tax (VAT) in both local and import stages will also suffer due to the impact of global economic slowdown. Also, the fall in the prices of commodities in the local markets will directly affect collection of VAT," he said.
Commodity prices in the international market are currently volatile, so it cannot be predicted right now about what will be the probable impact on revenue earning, he said.
He unveiled the revenue collection data of first quarter (July-September) saying the revenue earning stood at Tk 19.15 billion or 20.37 per cent more than that of the same period in previous fiscal.
The NBR chief said a total of 0.67 million individual taxpayers have submitted tax returns by November 12 deadline. They have paid tax amounting to nearly Tk 8.0 billion for the current tax year.
The revenue board collected tax worth Tk 7.39 billion and Tk 2.52 billion against 0.64 million and 0.53 individual tax returns in 2007-08 and 2006-07 fiscals respectively.
Besides, the NBR received tax worth Tk 1.08 billion on account of income generated from formalization of undisclosed income that expired on October 31.
Around 14,622 people have availed the opportunity by disclosing Tk 7.88 billion undeclared income during July-October period.
Responding to a question on appointing the Pre-shipment Audit Agency, the NBR chief said: "The board is scrutinising the allegations against the primarily selected PSI audit agency. It is yet to be finalised."
About collection of travel tax, the NBR member (tax exemption and appeal) Emdadul Huq said: "The NBR is yet to collect due travel tax from Biman Bangladesh airlines, GMG and Best Air. It is trying to realise the tax as soon as possible."
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) said Wednesday it is determined to take stern action against the tax evaders, but it will maintain caution to avoid creating any panic in businesses.
"We will take stern action against the tax evaders as per existing lists without affecting business activities," said NBR chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid at a press briefing Wednesday.
The NBR has formed a team comprising inspection, survey and intelligence cells to net the tax evaders, he said.
"The NBR team is now scrutinising the tax statements of wealthy persons, who have private cars, land or credit cards. It might ask high earning private schools and colleges to pay tax by cheque," the NBR chief said.
The revenue board is trying to create a psychological pressure on big taxpayers so that they come to revenue board before persuasion by taxmen, he said.
When asked about checking tax payment status of candidates contesting in upcoming polls, the NBR chairman said: "We have already prepared all tax related documents of the candidates. The NBR will give those to the concerned government agency when required."
Tax defaulters are barred to contest the polls under the existing laws. It is a regular job of revenue board to provide tax related information about the election candidates to the EC.
"We are cross-checking the TIN of the members of different clubs and organisations to find out fake TIN holders," he said.
The number of TIN holders stood at 2.2 millions until October 31. Of them, 93,759 new TIN holders were registered during the motivational campaign to net new taxpayers in February-October period.
The NBR, for the first time this year, has revised the statistics of TIN holders. It has cancelled 39,854 fake or duplicate TINs.
The NBR chairman said: "The board is yet to issue all TINs to the people under survey. I have given instruction to all tax offices for issuance of TIN to all surveyed people in business houses by next one month."
Until now, only 17,418 persons have obtained TIN under the survey that found 0.10 million new taxpayers.
The NBR teams will look for tax dodgers in various sectors and organisations, but it will approach self-motivated new taxpayers with politeness, the NBR chairman said.
On the impact of global economic slowdown Mr Mazid said if the crisis persists for long there might be an adverse impact on the country's revenue earnings.
"Earnings from import duty will certainly decline with the downward trend of commodity prices in the international market. The collection from Value Added Tax (VAT) in both local and import stages will also suffer due to the impact of global economic slowdown. Also, the fall in the prices of commodities in the local markets will directly affect collection of VAT," he said.
Commodity prices in the international market are currently volatile, so it cannot be predicted right now about what will be the probable impact on revenue earning, he said.
He unveiled the revenue collection data of first quarter (July-September) saying the revenue earning stood at Tk 19.15 billion or 20.37 per cent more than that of the same period in previous fiscal.
The NBR chief said a total of 0.67 million individual taxpayers have submitted tax returns by November 12 deadline. They have paid tax amounting to nearly Tk 8.0 billion for the current tax year.
The revenue board collected tax worth Tk 7.39 billion and Tk 2.52 billion against 0.64 million and 0.53 individual tax returns in 2007-08 and 2006-07 fiscals respectively.
Besides, the NBR received tax worth Tk 1.08 billion on account of income generated from formalization of undisclosed income that expired on October 31.
Around 14,622 people have availed the opportunity by disclosing Tk 7.88 billion undeclared income during July-October period.
Responding to a question on appointing the Pre-shipment Audit Agency, the NBR chief said: "The board is scrutinising the allegations against the primarily selected PSI audit agency. It is yet to be finalised."
About collection of travel tax, the NBR member (tax exemption and appeal) Emdadul Huq said: "The NBR is yet to collect due travel tax from Biman Bangladesh airlines, GMG and Best Air. It is trying to realise the tax as soon as possible."