Revenue admn to be overhauled
Monday, 22 November 2010
Doulot Akter Mala
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) plans to overhaul the revenue administration in an integrated manner.
The revenue board is now reviewing a draft work plan of Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund (BICF) to carry out reform activities in all of its three wings---income tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) and customs.
NBR member (customs and VAT administration) Md. Farid Uddin recently sent the draft work plan of BICF to all of the tax commissionarates across the country seeking opinion of the field officials.
BICF provides advisory service in South-Asia which is managed by International Finance Corporation (IFC) in partnership with the UK department for International Development and the European Union (EU).
Talking to the FE Saturday, NBR member Farid Uddin said: "The NBR has initiated the move to carry out reform activities in a coordinated manner. Each and every wing of the revenue board will go through the reform process under this fresh move."
The NBR has sought field level opinions on thematic structure of the draft work plan placed by BICF, he said.
"We are also discussing the plan with development partners to know about the best international practices," he said.
Recommendations of the field offices will be given priority in the reform work plan, he added.
The revenue board has realised that integrated work plan is necessary to carry out reform initiatives successfully as income tax, VAT and customs revenue are closely linked with each other, he said.
It will not bring any positive result if reforms of the three wings are carried out separately, he added.
The work plan for 2010-2013 period, placed by BICF, has set five themes on reform including reviewing of income tax, VAT and customs laws and rules, strengthening institutional capacity, automation of services, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation.
The draft work plan has set time-frame for completion of new income tax ordinance, Vat and customs act by March 11, December 10 and December 11 respectively.
Introduction of tax ADR (alternative dispute resolution) system in Bangladesh will take place by December 10 in a bid to resolve millions of pending revenue cases.
The work plan suggests outsourcing the TIN/BIN and tax return processing system by appointing record keeping agency and creating a central processing centre.
The BICF also pledged to support NBR to design a risk-based audit system and developing detailed process maps for business process re-engineering for improved tax administration.
The BICF work plan suggests DFID support to strengthen central intelligence cell (CIC), rolling out large taxpayers unit and central tax survey to find out tax evaders and identify new taxpayers.
As a short-term plan for income tax wing, the BICF has proposed to introduce online TIN application, tax return and tax payment system. It has also included TIN database cleaning system in the work plan as a short-term measure.
For reform in VAT department, the BICF work plan includes online application for BIN (business Identification Number), VAT returns, VAT payment and BIN data base cleaning.
Customs related automation includes-development of bond module, automation of DEDO (duty exemption and draw back office) process, installation of ASYCUDA++ in all the land customs stations.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) plans to overhaul the revenue administration in an integrated manner.
The revenue board is now reviewing a draft work plan of Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund (BICF) to carry out reform activities in all of its three wings---income tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) and customs.
NBR member (customs and VAT administration) Md. Farid Uddin recently sent the draft work plan of BICF to all of the tax commissionarates across the country seeking opinion of the field officials.
BICF provides advisory service in South-Asia which is managed by International Finance Corporation (IFC) in partnership with the UK department for International Development and the European Union (EU).
Talking to the FE Saturday, NBR member Farid Uddin said: "The NBR has initiated the move to carry out reform activities in a coordinated manner. Each and every wing of the revenue board will go through the reform process under this fresh move."
The NBR has sought field level opinions on thematic structure of the draft work plan placed by BICF, he said.
"We are also discussing the plan with development partners to know about the best international practices," he said.
Recommendations of the field offices will be given priority in the reform work plan, he added.
The revenue board has realised that integrated work plan is necessary to carry out reform initiatives successfully as income tax, VAT and customs revenue are closely linked with each other, he said.
It will not bring any positive result if reforms of the three wings are carried out separately, he added.
The work plan for 2010-2013 period, placed by BICF, has set five themes on reform including reviewing of income tax, VAT and customs laws and rules, strengthening institutional capacity, automation of services, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation.
The draft work plan has set time-frame for completion of new income tax ordinance, Vat and customs act by March 11, December 10 and December 11 respectively.
Introduction of tax ADR (alternative dispute resolution) system in Bangladesh will take place by December 10 in a bid to resolve millions of pending revenue cases.
The work plan suggests outsourcing the TIN/BIN and tax return processing system by appointing record keeping agency and creating a central processing centre.
The BICF also pledged to support NBR to design a risk-based audit system and developing detailed process maps for business process re-engineering for improved tax administration.
The BICF work plan suggests DFID support to strengthen central intelligence cell (CIC), rolling out large taxpayers unit and central tax survey to find out tax evaders and identify new taxpayers.
As a short-term plan for income tax wing, the BICF has proposed to introduce online TIN application, tax return and tax payment system. It has also included TIN database cleaning system in the work plan as a short-term measure.
For reform in VAT department, the BICF work plan includes online application for BIN (business Identification Number), VAT returns, VAT payment and BIN data base cleaning.
Customs related automation includes-development of bond module, automation of DEDO (duty exemption and draw back office) process, installation of ASYCUDA++ in all the land customs stations.