NBR studying penalty hike in \'imported\' cattle

The anti-smuggling central taskforce has formed a consultative committee to conduct study for increasing penalty on informal import of cattle-heads and rationalise taxes on import of gold.
The committee, comprising representatives of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), Ministry of Home, Ministry of Commerce, Bangladesh Bank, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), was formed in the second meeting of the reconstituted central task-force, headed by NBR chairman Md Nojibur Rahman.
The meeting was held on the NBR premises recently.
Customs (Policy) member has been made the convener of the consultative committee.    
Customs intelligence and investigation directorate will provide secretarial support to the committee.
The taskforce has defined a four-point workplan for the consultative committee.
It will scrutinise the possibility of increasing the penalty on the import of cattle heads through different corridors, officials said.
Currently, customs authority imposes Tk 500 fine for each cattle heads at the corridors for informal import from India.  
The consultative committee will re-visit existing duty-structure on import of gold and explore the possibility of increasing revenue collection from this sector.
In the second meeting of the taskforce, representative of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) proposed simplifying the process of import of gold legally to check smuggling.
The committee will also work for resolving complexities on the valuation of imported smuggled products.
It will work on developing mutual cooperation between the taskforce organisations.
Earlier, the NBR had decided to keep the fine for illegal import of cattle heads from India unchanged considering Eid-ul-Azha and soaring price of beef in the local market.
Following proposal of the divisional commissioner of Rajshahi, the taskforce decided to consider re-fix the fine.
In the taskforce meeting, NBR member of the relevant desk said the wing has re-evaluated the proposal on increasing the penalty and prepare a situation paper with negative opinion.