NBR to expand zones as tax-payers bulge

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has drafted a new expansion plan for its income-tax department to have 17 new tax zones to manage a growing number of taxpayers.
Officials said the income-tax wing will have an investigation and intelligence directorate for the first time under the plan to dig out critical tax-evasion cases.
There will be six tax zones for tax deduction at source (TDS), three appeal commissionerates and territorial new tax zones in Faridpur, Jessore and Kushtia.
The income-tax department in a recent meeting placed the draft expansion plan with the NBR high-ups.
Officials said the new expansion plan of the wing has been drafted after the authorities observed an impressive growth in the number of income- taxpayers in recent times.
The number of e-TIN holders is expected to jump to nearly 3.0 million this year. The number of individuals' tax returns will increase on a par with the e-TINs, officials said.
"Time has come to focus on the formation of dedicated tax zones," said a senior tax official.
Collection of tax at source needs intensive monitoring, and it contributes 54 per cent of the income-tax receipts, he added.
Of the planned six TDS tax zones, four will be located in Dhaka and the rest in Rajshahi and Chittagong.
There will be three appeal tax commissionerates in Dhaka and Chittagong and one each in Rangpur, Rajshahi and Bogra.
In addition, two tax zones in Dhaka and one in Chittagong will be set up as per the draft plan drawn by the department.
Tax officials said a new position of 'chief commissioner' (grade-2) will be created in-between members and first secretary of the revenue board.
There will be 14 chief commissioners (CC) in the new expansion plan. Existing Directors-General (DG) posts will be renamed CC.
Currently, the IT wing has 39 zones across the country and one academy. Of the offices, 33 directly deal with income-tax collection.
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