Stimulus loan: VAT return condition scrapped
Doulot Akter Mala | Wednesday, 1 July 2020
The VAT intelligence wing on Tuesday backtracked from its move to make the return submission mandatory for bank loan applicants.
The wing scrapped its previous decision so that affected businesses can avail the stimulus cash doled out by the government to help enterprises cushion the COVID-19-induced economic blow.
In a letter to the Bangladesh Bank or BB, VAT audit, intelligence and investigation wing under the National Board of Revenue said the move has been cancelled to keep smooth operations of businesses and reduce the unexpected hassle that the taxpayers suffer.
Earlier, the wing had requested the central bank and other commercial banks to ensure the submission of VAT returns and verify its information with the furnished turnover or sales of a company as per their audited financial statement. It urged the banks to verify the information before giving the approval to loan application.
According to the VAT wings request, the bank would require to notify the VAT intelligence team immediately if they found any mismatch between the declared turnover and the audited figures.
In case of detection of any such mismatch by VAT officials in future, the VAT wing would hold the bank officials concerned responsible, the previous letter said.
However, the VAT wing excluded 100 per cent export-oriented industry from this mandatory VAT return submission rules.
As per section 82 of the VAT and Supplementary Duty law-2012, taxmen can seek any information from commercial banks for the purpose of investigation.
It has been widely alleged that taxpayers usually submit a different annual financial report, which does not correspond with the return data causing revenue loss to the public exchequer.
As per the VAT law, every VAT-registered business requires to submit a return every month to the tax authority notifying the sales, purchase and financial transaction.
In the letter dated June 30, the VAT intelligence wing Director General Syed Mushfequr Rahman said the initiating such a move as a strategy will increase revenue collection and act as a part of scrutinising the authenticity of the furnished information in VAT returns.