Tax ombudsman's office to be abolished: Muhith
Friday, 9 July 2010
FE Report
Finance Minister AMA Muhith said Thursday the government would annul the Tax Ombudsman's Office.
"As I said earlier, we will not keep the Tax Ombudsman's Office," Mr Muhith told newsmen after his attention was drawn to the future appointment of a new Tax Ombudsman as the tenure of Khairuzzaman Chowdhury, the country's first Tax Ombudsman, has expired.
The finance minister was briefing media people after his meeting with visiting Vice President of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Rashad Rudolf Kaldany at his Secretariat office.
The government established the tax Ombudsman's Office in 2005 empowering the tax ombudsman to receive complaints from taxpayers.
Tax Ombudsman Law-2005 empowered the ombudsman to recommend punitive measures against taxmen, if found guilty of harassing taxpayers.
But the office has not received the expected response from the taxpayers due to lack of awareness of the activities of the office and poor pace of implementation of the Tax Ombudsman's recommendation by the National Board of Revenue (NBR), sources said.
Some taxpayers also refrain themselves from lodging complaints to avoid further harassment by the taxmen, sources added saying that they (taxpayers) do not want to annoy the tax officials dealing with their files.
The government has spent around Tk 100 million for establishment and recruitment for the office in the last three years.
Responding to another query on whether tax would be imposed on interest gains from savings certificates even if they matured before the new tax measurers came into force on July 1, the finance minister said this particular case would be taken into consideration.
The IFC vice president informed newsmen that during the meeting with the finance minister they discussed the IFC's lending arrangements in Bnagladesh.
"The IFC will continue its support programmes for Bangladesh, especially in development of power and energy sectors, Public- Private Partnership (PPP) scheme, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs)."
Finance Minister AMA Muhith said Thursday the government would annul the Tax Ombudsman's Office.
"As I said earlier, we will not keep the Tax Ombudsman's Office," Mr Muhith told newsmen after his attention was drawn to the future appointment of a new Tax Ombudsman as the tenure of Khairuzzaman Chowdhury, the country's first Tax Ombudsman, has expired.
The finance minister was briefing media people after his meeting with visiting Vice President of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Rashad Rudolf Kaldany at his Secretariat office.
The government established the tax Ombudsman's Office in 2005 empowering the tax ombudsman to receive complaints from taxpayers.
Tax Ombudsman Law-2005 empowered the ombudsman to recommend punitive measures against taxmen, if found guilty of harassing taxpayers.
But the office has not received the expected response from the taxpayers due to lack of awareness of the activities of the office and poor pace of implementation of the Tax Ombudsman's recommendation by the National Board of Revenue (NBR), sources said.
Some taxpayers also refrain themselves from lodging complaints to avoid further harassment by the taxmen, sources added saying that they (taxpayers) do not want to annoy the tax officials dealing with their files.
The government has spent around Tk 100 million for establishment and recruitment for the office in the last three years.
Responding to another query on whether tax would be imposed on interest gains from savings certificates even if they matured before the new tax measurers came into force on July 1, the finance minister said this particular case would be taken into consideration.
The IFC vice president informed newsmen that during the meeting with the finance minister they discussed the IFC's lending arrangements in Bnagladesh.
"The IFC will continue its support programmes for Bangladesh, especially in development of power and energy sectors, Public- Private Partnership (PPP) scheme, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs)."