NBR launches hunt for 0.4m new taxpayers after Eid
Friday, 27 November 2009
Doulot Akter Mala
The revenue board will launch a nationwide door-to-door survey after the Eid-ul-Azha festival to net 400,000 new taxpayers in an effort to boost the country's dismal tax earnings, officials said.
National Board of Revenue (NBR) officials said they would launch the survey in December, with time-bound target for each of its zonal office, to find and enlist people who have crossed the minimum tax threshold.
"We have instructed all tax offices to start door-to-door survey after the Eid," said Shamvu Nath who heads the board's tax survey and inspection department.
Mr. Nath said the board would fast-track the survey as the country is in dire need to bolster its tax earnings, which at 8.5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product is one of the lowest in the world.
"We are doing it on an emergency basis," he said.
Bangladesh has around 700,000 taxpayers, some 20 per cent of whom are government employees and rest concentrated in the country's six main divisional cities.
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have said the number is a fraction of potential tax-payers in a country of 144 million people - a fact amply reflected by the country's 51 million mobile phone subscribers.
NBR had in the past set targets to net around 200,000 new taxpayers a year, but they never achieved their goals, owing largely to lack of logistics and manpower shortage.
The board officials are, however, confident that this year they would hit the target as pilot surveys in the capital's Uttara and Chittagong's Sitakundu found potential "new caches" of taxpayers.
"Out of ten people we surveyed, we found that at least six have crossed the minimum tax threshold," said a NBR official.
"In Uttara, 16,048 people were surveyed door-to-door survey. Of them, our officials have identified 10,940 new taxpayers," he said.
In Sitakundu - the country's second largest industrial town -- the NBR team has found 1555 new taxpayers out of 1950 people it surveyed.
The board launched the pilot surveys in mid-August targeting 15 unexplored areas including Basundhara, Baridhara, Banosri, Nikunja, Savar, Dohar, Nawabganj, Keraniganj of Dhaka, Louhojong of Munshiganj district and Patia, Satkania, Hathajari, Mirershwarai of Chittagong.
To speed up the search, tax commissioners will form a small team led by a joint or an additional commissioner for conducting the survey in their respective tax zones.
"All tax zones will carry out door-to-door surveys and we have set specific targets for each zone," the NBR official said.
The board has split the target among its 16 tax zone offices in greater districts of Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet, Barishal and Rangpur.
Eight tax zones in the capital will have to net 0.2 million new taxpayers in external and internal surveys while three tax zones under Chittagong division will have to find out 90,000 new taxpayers.
Income tax offices under Rajshahi, Sylhet and Khulna will have to net 20,000 new taxpayers each while Barisal 15,000 and Rangpur 10,000 taxpayers.
Officials said the board is planning to outsource some parts of the survey to expedite the hunt for new taxpayers.
The revenue board will launch a nationwide door-to-door survey after the Eid-ul-Azha festival to net 400,000 new taxpayers in an effort to boost the country's dismal tax earnings, officials said.
National Board of Revenue (NBR) officials said they would launch the survey in December, with time-bound target for each of its zonal office, to find and enlist people who have crossed the minimum tax threshold.
"We have instructed all tax offices to start door-to-door survey after the Eid," said Shamvu Nath who heads the board's tax survey and inspection department.
Mr. Nath said the board would fast-track the survey as the country is in dire need to bolster its tax earnings, which at 8.5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product is one of the lowest in the world.
"We are doing it on an emergency basis," he said.
Bangladesh has around 700,000 taxpayers, some 20 per cent of whom are government employees and rest concentrated in the country's six main divisional cities.
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have said the number is a fraction of potential tax-payers in a country of 144 million people - a fact amply reflected by the country's 51 million mobile phone subscribers.
NBR had in the past set targets to net around 200,000 new taxpayers a year, but they never achieved their goals, owing largely to lack of logistics and manpower shortage.
The board officials are, however, confident that this year they would hit the target as pilot surveys in the capital's Uttara and Chittagong's Sitakundu found potential "new caches" of taxpayers.
"Out of ten people we surveyed, we found that at least six have crossed the minimum tax threshold," said a NBR official.
"In Uttara, 16,048 people were surveyed door-to-door survey. Of them, our officials have identified 10,940 new taxpayers," he said.
In Sitakundu - the country's second largest industrial town -- the NBR team has found 1555 new taxpayers out of 1950 people it surveyed.
The board launched the pilot surveys in mid-August targeting 15 unexplored areas including Basundhara, Baridhara, Banosri, Nikunja, Savar, Dohar, Nawabganj, Keraniganj of Dhaka, Louhojong of Munshiganj district and Patia, Satkania, Hathajari, Mirershwarai of Chittagong.
To speed up the search, tax commissioners will form a small team led by a joint or an additional commissioner for conducting the survey in their respective tax zones.
"All tax zones will carry out door-to-door surveys and we have set specific targets for each zone," the NBR official said.
The board has split the target among its 16 tax zone offices in greater districts of Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet, Barishal and Rangpur.
Eight tax zones in the capital will have to net 0.2 million new taxpayers in external and internal surveys while three tax zones under Chittagong division will have to find out 90,000 new taxpayers.
Income tax offices under Rajshahi, Sylhet and Khulna will have to net 20,000 new taxpayers each while Barisal 15,000 and Rangpur 10,000 taxpayers.
Officials said the board is planning to outsource some parts of the survey to expedite the hunt for new taxpayers.