NBR unveils tax admn digitisation programme

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) unveiled Sunday a three-year programme, starting from 2015, to digitise its tax administration and tax return filing system.
The board will launch a pilot project in this connection within eight to nine months from the formal launch of the full-fledged programme.  
The NBR will be taking up the project, titled, 'Strengthening governance management project: Online filing and digitisation of tax returns and establishment of taxpayers information and services (SGMP)' with the financial assistance worth US$ 6.5 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
To introduce income tax business process automation and e-filing system, the NBR signed an agreement with a Vietnamese company FPT information system corporation on August 24, last.
The NBR unveiled the project at a press briefing Sunday at the NBR premises.
NBR chairman Ghulam Hussain, also Secretary, the Internal Resources Division (IRD), chaired the programme which was attended by Vietnam ambassador Nguyen Quang Thuc, FTP group chairman Do Cao Bao and representatives from German SAP and IBM.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Hussain said the online tax return filing system will be made available from January 1, 2016 under the project.
"The main objective of the project is to digitize the income tax administration. There will be interconnectivity with VAT and customs wing, trade portal of commerce ministry, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh Bank (BB), import-export directorate," he said.
He said taxpayers should get the facility to pay taxes from anywhere and through any banks, not only through Sonali and Janata.
Legal complexities will be resolved to facilitate tax payment from all banks, he added.
The NBR will launch a pilot programme within eight-nine months of the project before full-fledged implementation, he added.
He said the VAT online project tender will be floated in June 2015.
"The NBR is moving towards expanding the tax net using the system," he said.
The NBR chief expressed the hope to increase the number of taxpayers to 2.0 million by next three to four years. There must be 6.0 million taxpayers in the country, he said.
"Direct tax collection should be doubled, from existing Tk 575 billion, in the next few years as it has huge potentiality," he said.
NBR member and Project Director Kalipada Haldar said the system would also include e-TDS system under which tax offices will monitor and receive withholding taxes.

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