The National Board of Revenue ((NBR) has decided to put the country's insurance companies under its scanner amid the detection of tax evasion cases by some of them, reports UNB.
The NBR, the central authority of the country's tax administration, has recently formed a three-member committee to find out the tax-evasion incidents by the insurance companies, according to sources.
There are some 75 insurance companies in the country, including government-owned Sadharan Bima and Jibon Bima. Of the country's total insurance companies, 46 are enlisted in the capital market.
"The NBR chairman (Ghulam Hossain) in a recent coordination meeting has directed the officials concerned to prepare a list of insurance companies making it clear which companies are evading how much tax," a senior NBR official said.
The meeting was told that there are some sectors in the country where the incidents of tax evasion are relatively high and the names of some companies in the insurance sector also came up in the meeting.
"The meeting said that if the tax evasion incidents can be reduced in this sector, then the amount of tax collection will get a considerable boost," the NBR official said.
The NBR chairman then directed the relevant officials to prepare a list of the insurance companies that are involved in tax evasion and collect the tax with fine.
According to information obtained from NBR's Central Intelligence Cell (CIC), some insurance companies hide their actual incomes and expenditures in their files, depriving the government of considerable amount of revenue.
The NBR official said they have had evidence that some insurance companies are evading tax by showing false statements. "That's why the NBR formed the committee to detect the tax evasion cases," he said.
He said the government gave the NBR a higher target for the revenue collection this year and the tax administration authority is very much serious about the revenue collection and does not want to keep any loophole for tax evasion.
The budget for the current fiscal set an overall revenue collection target of TK 1829.54 billion. Of the target, the NBR's share is estimated at TK 1497.20 billion, up Tk 247.20 billion than the last fiscal's.
Meanwhile, the NBR has chalked out 27 work plans to achieve its huge revenue collection target.
The NBR has identified the 'risky' and 'sensitive' organisations in terms of revenue collection, and take quick actions in this regard, intensifying the drive to realise the outstanding revenues and dispose of the pending cases.
Besides, the NBR has asked its tax zone offices to improve the activities of their respective service desks.
The NBR has also decided to increase its in-house training, collect import information and examine those, hold regular meetings to review tax collection status and take steps to raise awareness among taxpayers about tax payment.
The NBR directed the customs officials to check duty evasion, under-invoicing and abuse of bonded warehouse facilities.
Some insurance cos under NBR scanner
FE Team | Published: November 23, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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