NBR nets record 325,000 new taxpayers in FY9-10
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Doulot Akter Mala
The country's revenue administration has roped in a record 325,000 new taxpayers in the outgoing fiscal year, boosting the number of direct tax givers to a million for the first time.
The National Board of Revenue said the number represents more than three-fold increase in new taxpayers than the previous 2008-09 fiscal year.
"This is a record and a major success of the revenue board," said Shamvu Nath, the head of survey and inspection wing of income tax department.
"Since the country's history, we have never had more than 100,000 new taxpayers a year. But this year we already got 325,000 taxpayers. And the year is not over yet. We hope we'll get thousands more," he said.
The NBR netted 97,000 taxpayers in 2007-08 - the highest figure till this year, he added.
The board has issued nearly 0.15 million taxpayers identification number (TIN) to the newly found taxpayers - also a record in the NBR's nearly four decade's history.
The government had set a target to include 0.4 million new taxpayers for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. Officials said the goal was too much to ask for from the "chronically undermanned" revenue department.
Nath said accurate surveys and a continuous coordination between the field teams and the tax offices led to the successful findings of "such a big number of taxpayers".
"We have to thank our survey teams across the nation and all field offices for the feat. They worked tirelessly and knocked almost every rich man's door to find a potential new taxpayer," he said.
The tax administration trained its inspectors, recruited students as data collectors, launched an advertisement blitz and held nationwide awareness campaign in an effort to net new taxpayers, he added.
"The survey went on smoothly. So far, there have been no complaints from the taxpayers that our data collectors or survey teams have harassed them," Nath, also a NBR member, said.
Buoyed by NBR's achievement, the finance minister has set an ambitious new target to rope in 0.5 million new taxpayers in the budget for the upcoming 2010-2011 fiscal year.
The NBR has ordered its press department to publish millions of tax return forms with a view to netting in at least 1.0 million new taxpayers in the next couple of years, said another official.
"We don't think one million taxpayers is an ambitious target. We can achieve the target through effective monitoring and expansion of tax department to the upazila (sub-district) level," he said.
The country's revenue administration has roped in a record 325,000 new taxpayers in the outgoing fiscal year, boosting the number of direct tax givers to a million for the first time.
The National Board of Revenue said the number represents more than three-fold increase in new taxpayers than the previous 2008-09 fiscal year.
"This is a record and a major success of the revenue board," said Shamvu Nath, the head of survey and inspection wing of income tax department.
"Since the country's history, we have never had more than 100,000 new taxpayers a year. But this year we already got 325,000 taxpayers. And the year is not over yet. We hope we'll get thousands more," he said.
The NBR netted 97,000 taxpayers in 2007-08 - the highest figure till this year, he added.
The board has issued nearly 0.15 million taxpayers identification number (TIN) to the newly found taxpayers - also a record in the NBR's nearly four decade's history.
The government had set a target to include 0.4 million new taxpayers for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. Officials said the goal was too much to ask for from the "chronically undermanned" revenue department.
Nath said accurate surveys and a continuous coordination between the field teams and the tax offices led to the successful findings of "such a big number of taxpayers".
"We have to thank our survey teams across the nation and all field offices for the feat. They worked tirelessly and knocked almost every rich man's door to find a potential new taxpayer," he said.
The tax administration trained its inspectors, recruited students as data collectors, launched an advertisement blitz and held nationwide awareness campaign in an effort to net new taxpayers, he added.
"The survey went on smoothly. So far, there have been no complaints from the taxpayers that our data collectors or survey teams have harassed them," Nath, also a NBR member, said.
Buoyed by NBR's achievement, the finance minister has set an ambitious new target to rope in 0.5 million new taxpayers in the budget for the upcoming 2010-2011 fiscal year.
The NBR has ordered its press department to publish millions of tax return forms with a view to netting in at least 1.0 million new taxpayers in the next couple of years, said another official.
"We don't think one million taxpayers is an ambitious target. We can achieve the target through effective monitoring and expansion of tax department to the upazila (sub-district) level," he said.