To stop harassment of taxpayers and make the revenue system completely transparent and technology-based, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) is moving towards a new 'faceless' or fully digital tax system, said its chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan.
He made these remarks as a special guest at a pre-budget discussion titled “Revenue Mobilization: Challenges and Opportunities” organized by the Policy Research and Development Center (PPRC) at the National Theater Hall of the Shilpakala Academy in the capital on Saturday.
PPRC executive chairman Hossain Zillur Rahman presided over the program.
Prime Minister's financial adviser Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir was the chief guest.
The NBR chairman said that harassment is the biggest concern of taxpayers. To get out of that place, the tax system is being made completely automated and digital, so that there is no scope for personal intervention with the taxpayer.
Everything from audit selection to the refund process will now be managed in a 'risk-based' and system-dependent manner.
He said that the online return system has been introduced, where the taxpayer will no longer have to do his own calculations in a complicated manner; the system will automatically determine the calculations. At the same time, taxpayers will be able to easily view their personal ledger, tax liability and refund status by logging in online.
The chairman also said that from July 1, the income tax refund process will be made faster.
The tax refund amount will now reach the taxpayer's bank account directly without going to any office. Such a process has already started in the VAT refund system.
As part of the long-term reform of tax administration, he proposed to include 'tax education' in the education curriculum.
According to him, it is important to give students from primary to higher secondary levels a basic understanding of the tax system, so that future generations are aware of the importance of paying taxes and its role in national development.
The NBR chairman also emphasized reducing cash transactions to increase revenue collection. He said that the governor of Bangladesh Bank has been advised that the relevant money must be deposited in the bank before issuing TT or pay order. In addition, plans are being made to introduce a step-by-step 'invoicing' system in the entire economy, which will play an effective role in preventing tax evasion.
Prime Minister's finance and planning adviser Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir said that the propaganda that the government is printing money is not in line with reality. The current government is giving utmost importance to investment and employment creation and has taken special initiatives to restart closed industries.
Titumir said that in the past, people's incomes had shrunk. The situation was so difficult that many people from the lower middle class had fallen below the poverty line. This has created great pressure and erosion in the middle and lower middle class of the society. He said that in the past, businessmen did not get the necessary capital and the activities of the central bank were also interfered in.
He also commented that the power and energy sectors were left under the control of a few companies. The current government does not want to put any sector under the control of syndicates; rather, it wants to ensure the participation of the common people through democratization of the economy.