Raised untaxed income ceiling boon for undisclosed money holders
Doulot Akter Mala | Monday, 14 July 2008
People having undisclosed incomes could enjoy the benefit of the existing untaxed income limit of Tk 165,000 at the time of declaring their legally-earned money under the latest offer the government has made to this end, a senior revenue official said.
Under the latest offer, that came into effect on July 1 and will be valid till October 31, 2008, any undisclosed income could be formalised with payment of 7.0 per cent penalty in addition to the normal tax rate applicable for 2008-09.
Taxpayers said the revenue board should clarify some issues relating to this offer, so that the people can easily benefit from the opportunity.
Some people are coming to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to ask various questions about formalising undisclosed income.
NBR insiders said people are asking whether foreign companies are entitled to enjoy the facility. They also seek to learn about the actual process of declaring income and such other things.
According to the NBR men, the government's latest offer is quite different from that of the last year, under which an undisclosed income was accepted without asking any question.
Under the previous offer made in June last year, any undisclosed money holder could declare his income of a particular year enjoying the tax-free income ceiling and the tax-rate of that year.
But now an undisclosed money holder will enjoy the tax-free income ceiling and the tax-rate of the current fiscal only for disclosing the income of any past year.
'People will now enjoy the benefit of the raised untaxed income ceiling by availing the latest opportunity, even for disclosing an undeclared income of a particular year, for which the untaxed income threshold was much below the existing ceiling,' said a senior tax official.
NBR chairman Mohammad Abdul Mazid said: "We will clarify some of the issues relating to availing the offer."
The present offer is different from that of the previous year, as the taxpayers will enjoy the existing raised untaxed income limit. Now they will not have to open up a tax file of the related year, he said.
However, the revenue board is yet to compile the data on disclosures of undeclared money. Officials said the NBR would start collection of the data from all zonal offices from next week.
A tax official said: 'Tax rates and penalty will be much higher if taxmen detect any undisclosed income.'
For normal detection, the penalty rates vary from 10 per cent to 50 per cent for evasion of taxes for five consecutive years.
'We will continue the ongoing taxpayer detection drive along with the latest offer,' he added.
Detection of taxpayers will be strengthened this year as the government has set a higher revenue collection target for the 2008-09 fiscal following a satisfactory growth in revenue earnings in the just-concluded fiscal, he said.
Last year, the NBR mopped up taxes worth Tk 8.02 billion (802 crore) against undisclosed incomes under the last offer as 42,459 persons declared a total income of Tk 52.13 billion.
For 2008-09, the revenue board has projected a tax collection target of only Tk 3.0 billion from undisclosed incomes as the latest offer is not as liberal as the previous ones.
Under the latest offer, that came into effect on July 1 and will be valid till October 31, 2008, any undisclosed income could be formalised with payment of 7.0 per cent penalty in addition to the normal tax rate applicable for 2008-09.
Taxpayers said the revenue board should clarify some issues relating to this offer, so that the people can easily benefit from the opportunity.
Some people are coming to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to ask various questions about formalising undisclosed income.
NBR insiders said people are asking whether foreign companies are entitled to enjoy the facility. They also seek to learn about the actual process of declaring income and such other things.
According to the NBR men, the government's latest offer is quite different from that of the last year, under which an undisclosed income was accepted without asking any question.
Under the previous offer made in June last year, any undisclosed money holder could declare his income of a particular year enjoying the tax-free income ceiling and the tax-rate of that year.
But now an undisclosed money holder will enjoy the tax-free income ceiling and the tax-rate of the current fiscal only for disclosing the income of any past year.
'People will now enjoy the benefit of the raised untaxed income ceiling by availing the latest opportunity, even for disclosing an undeclared income of a particular year, for which the untaxed income threshold was much below the existing ceiling,' said a senior tax official.
NBR chairman Mohammad Abdul Mazid said: "We will clarify some of the issues relating to availing the offer."
The present offer is different from that of the previous year, as the taxpayers will enjoy the existing raised untaxed income limit. Now they will not have to open up a tax file of the related year, he said.
However, the revenue board is yet to compile the data on disclosures of undeclared money. Officials said the NBR would start collection of the data from all zonal offices from next week.
A tax official said: 'Tax rates and penalty will be much higher if taxmen detect any undisclosed income.'
For normal detection, the penalty rates vary from 10 per cent to 50 per cent for evasion of taxes for five consecutive years.
'We will continue the ongoing taxpayer detection drive along with the latest offer,' he added.
Detection of taxpayers will be strengthened this year as the government has set a higher revenue collection target for the 2008-09 fiscal following a satisfactory growth in revenue earnings in the just-concluded fiscal, he said.
Last year, the NBR mopped up taxes worth Tk 8.02 billion (802 crore) against undisclosed incomes under the last offer as 42,459 persons declared a total income of Tk 52.13 billion.
For 2008-09, the revenue board has projected a tax collection target of only Tk 3.0 billion from undisclosed incomes as the latest offer is not as liberal as the previous ones.