The provision of legalising undisclosed money will continue in future, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said yesterday.
“The system prevailed in the last budget will continue in the upcoming fiscal year and will continue in the future,” he said at a post-budget press conference in the capital, adding that the income tax ordinance has provisions for legalising such money through penalties.
“According to the income tax ordinance, the undisclosed money refers to the untaxed money which a taxpayer somehow did not brought under the tax net. This is black money, or some other money, which any taxpayer has not disclosed to the state,” Muhith said explaining the nature of undisclosed money.
However, there will be no amnesty in the provision, he added.
Currently, people can legalise undisclosed money in income generating sectors by paying 10% penalty along with regular income tax ranging from 10% to 30%.
In the proposed budget, Muhith said untaxed money holders can legalise such money through investments such as purchasing buildings and flats in district and upazila areas by paying a reduced amount of specific tax.
<SUBHEADER> Separate minimum tax ceiling for taxpayers in city corporations
The government will introduce a separate ceiling of minimum tax for taxpayers in city corporation areas, Muhith said.
However, taxpayers from all other areas will have to pay the tax of Tk4,000.
The government has proposed raising the minimum tax for individual assets to Tk4,000, irrespective of location.
Currently, the minimum tax for city corporation residents is Tk 3,000, for district residents Tk2,000 and for residents of upazila and other areas Tk1,000.
NBR Chairman Nojibur Rahman, who also attended the post-budget press meet, said the uniform tax rate was proposed to reduce complexities in the tax collection process.
Regarding imposition of 5% supplementary duty on all mobile phone services, Muhith said such duty prevails in many other countries.
“The telecom industry is growing and maturing, so I believe they can pay it,” he said.
The minister also said there would be a major move to bring new taxpayers under the tax net to boost revenue collection.
The government has taken up different initiatives to raise the number of active taxpayers to three million from the existing 1.2 million by the FY2018-19, according to the budget speech.
