Bangladesh Indenting Agents Association yesterday proposed the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to introduce expenditure tax for people in purchase of car and property like land and apartments.
They said the government can combat money laundering and black money whitening through introduction of such tax.
If the NBR can introduce expenditure tax on purchase of properties, it can earn a huge amount of revenues from the sector as people are spending a lot of money on such purchases, said MS Siddique from Bangladesh Indenting Agents Association.
He also proposed that the NBR should make cheque transactions mandatory for purchase of fixed properties to expand the tax base.
The indenter made the demand at a pre-budget meeting with NBR at its headquarters. The tax body held a meeting yesterday with representatives from C& F associations, shipping associations, freight forwarding agents, tax lawyers, indentors, and ICMAB.
Addressing the meeting, Bangladesh Ship Breaking Association representative urged the NBR to reduce customs duty from Tk1,500 to Tk1,000, advance income tax from Tk400 to Tk200 and VAT from Tk270 to Tk150.
The Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) president ASM Saiful Islam said the role of cost and management accountants as facilitators in Alternative Dispute Resolution remain lapsed which needs to be included immediately as it is allowed as per law.
He also requested the NBR not to call senior citizens and female taxpayers to continuous hearings, if there are no specific allegations like tax evasion found against them. l
The tax-free limit for individual taxpayers should be set at Tk3 lakh from existing Tk2.20 lakh, Dhaka Taxes Bar Association representative said, adding that the tax-free ceiling for female and senior citizens aged over 65 years should be increased from existing Tk2.75 lakh to Tk3.75 lakh, for physically challenged taxpayers from Tk3 lakh to Tk4 lakh, and for freedom fighters from Tk4 lakh to Tk4.5 lakh.
The lawyer also demanded to include a judicial magistrate in each tribunal and to introduce online return filing soon for facilitating paying tax.
Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association (BAFFA) Vice-President ABM Rafiquzzaman called upon the NBR to extend the custom licencing expiry term to 4 years from 2 years, reduction of licencing fee to Tk5,000 from Tk10,000, inclusion of savings certificates instead of bank guarantee during licencing.
He also suggested that NBR should not provide licence to fully foreign freight forwarding companies, as he claimed that these companies are allegedly involved in money laundering activities.
Shippers Council of Bangladesh demanded withdrawal of 15% VAT from the interest on bank savings by the association.
Solar Module Manufacturers Association of Bangladesh demanded that the NBR should impose 30% to 40% customs duty and 70% to 80% supplementary duty on import of solar panel to prevent import of substandard panels.