NBR won't legalise funds disclosed under new offer
FE Report | Monday, 16 June 2008
The National Board of Revenue Sunday refused to accept as legal the funds to be disclosed under the latest opportunity offered by the government.
"The revenue board will not serve any show cause notice or seek any explanation from the taxpayers. But it will not mean that we are giving assurance for legalising the income declared under the offer," National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid told a press briefing at the Board premises.
Another government organisation might be interested to know the source of such funds, he said.
The finance adviser in his budget speech delivered on June 09 last spelt out the offer for declaring undisclosed yet legal income with the payment of 7.0 per cent penal tax in addition to normal rate of tax. The offer will remain valid for four months, from July to October 2008.
Last year, the government offered a similar opportunity with 5.0 per cent penal tax, in addition to normal tax rates.
The NBR chief ruled out the possibility of offering any opportunity for investment of undisclosed money in industries or any other sector without penal tax or at lower rate of penal tax.
Some trade bodies, including the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), have demanded of the government penal tax free investment opportunity for undisclosed income.
Mr. Mazid said the government's latest offer made in the budget for fiscal 2008-09 is quite different from that of the last year where undisclosed income was accepted without any 'question'.
Referring to criticism by a section of people who prefer to describe the latest opportunity as a scheme to whiten black money, he said in the income tax law there is nothing called 'white' or 'black' money.
He said the government has fixed a specific rate of penalty at 10 per cent for each year for formalising undisclosed income detected by taxmen in the existing income tax law.
The NBR has amended the existing law on the payment of variable penalty rates, starting from zero to 500 per cent, for formalising undisclosed income.
The government will take decision on nature of undisclosed income, which will be detected by taxmen. If the tax officials detect incidences of serious evasion, they might file cases in the court against the tax dodgers, NBR chairman said.
Responding to a question on higher revenue collection target for the next fiscal, Mr Mazid said: "We will focus on revenue generation not by imposing enhanced tax but by expanding the tax net and chasing the tax evaders."
The NBR has taken administrative steps to separate the tax policy unit from the implementation unit.
"We are taking steps to shift the tax policy unit to the internal resources division (IRD)," Mr Mazid said.
The NBR will launch a drive to enlist new taxpayers at district and upazilla level across the country from July 1, he said.
The revenue board will open camp for Value Added Tax (VAT) collection at the Upazilla level to reach taxpayers in a shortest possible time.
"We will take steps to detect tax evasion in line with the information gathered by the central intelligence cell (CIC) focusing on specific area," Mr Mazid said.
The NBR chairman also clarified some major changes proposed in the budget for the fiscal 2008-09.
He said: "We have integrated all industries involved in textile production to offer tax holiday facility from 2008 to 2011."
"The revenue board will not serve any show cause notice or seek any explanation from the taxpayers. But it will not mean that we are giving assurance for legalising the income declared under the offer," National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid told a press briefing at the Board premises.
Another government organisation might be interested to know the source of such funds, he said.
The finance adviser in his budget speech delivered on June 09 last spelt out the offer for declaring undisclosed yet legal income with the payment of 7.0 per cent penal tax in addition to normal rate of tax. The offer will remain valid for four months, from July to October 2008.
Last year, the government offered a similar opportunity with 5.0 per cent penal tax, in addition to normal tax rates.
The NBR chief ruled out the possibility of offering any opportunity for investment of undisclosed money in industries or any other sector without penal tax or at lower rate of penal tax.
Some trade bodies, including the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), have demanded of the government penal tax free investment opportunity for undisclosed income.
Mr. Mazid said the government's latest offer made in the budget for fiscal 2008-09 is quite different from that of the last year where undisclosed income was accepted without any 'question'.
Referring to criticism by a section of people who prefer to describe the latest opportunity as a scheme to whiten black money, he said in the income tax law there is nothing called 'white' or 'black' money.
He said the government has fixed a specific rate of penalty at 10 per cent for each year for formalising undisclosed income detected by taxmen in the existing income tax law.
The NBR has amended the existing law on the payment of variable penalty rates, starting from zero to 500 per cent, for formalising undisclosed income.
The government will take decision on nature of undisclosed income, which will be detected by taxmen. If the tax officials detect incidences of serious evasion, they might file cases in the court against the tax dodgers, NBR chairman said.
Responding to a question on higher revenue collection target for the next fiscal, Mr Mazid said: "We will focus on revenue generation not by imposing enhanced tax but by expanding the tax net and chasing the tax evaders."
The NBR has taken administrative steps to separate the tax policy unit from the implementation unit.
"We are taking steps to shift the tax policy unit to the internal resources division (IRD)," Mr Mazid said.
The NBR will launch a drive to enlist new taxpayers at district and upazilla level across the country from July 1, he said.
The revenue board will open camp for Value Added Tax (VAT) collection at the Upazilla level to reach taxpayers in a shortest possible time.
"We will take steps to detect tax evasion in line with the information gathered by the central intelligence cell (CIC) focusing on specific area," Mr Mazid said.
The NBR chairman also clarified some major changes proposed in the budget for the fiscal 2008-09.
He said: "We have integrated all industries involved in textile production to offer tax holiday facility from 2008 to 2011."