The government has proposed to formulate rules for the tax return preparers (TRPs) with a view to expanding the tax net by including new individual taxpayers.
Following the models of various developed countries, the new concept has been proposed in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY).
Compared to other developing and developed countries, the tax-GDP ratio in Bangladesh is not that encouraging, as per the finance minister's budget speech.
"It is essential to raise the tax-GDP ratio significantly to support our graduation to a developed country. We need to expand the tax net by bringing all eligible citizens of the country in the tax net, which in turn will enhance our capacity to tap more revenue and expand size of the formal economy," he noted.
Around 8.8 million people in Bangladesh currently hold electronic taxpayers identification number (ETIN). After taking some practical initiatives in the last year's budget, the number of submitted income tax return has increased by 25 per cent in the current FY in comparison to that of the previous year. The number of return is around 3.2 million, although it is not as per expectation.
"We hope that in the e-return platform and through the TRPs, we will be able to ensure submission of a lot of new income tax returns this year along with raising the number of taxpayers holding TIN," the budget speech added.
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