The low number of value added tax paying firms caused dissatisfaction to Finance Minister AMA Muhith who thinks more firms are eligible but not paying the tax.
“Only 60,000 business firms currently submit VAT returns although the number of eligible companies should be at least 3-6 lakh,” he said at a function in the city yesterday.
The minister said bringing all the eligible companies under the Vat net was the main challenge of the government.
National Board of Revenue organised the function to award the highest Vat paying firms on the occasion of National Vat Day and National Vat Week.
A number of 119 companies across the country were awarded for the financial year 2013-14 at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.
Nine companies received awards at national level and 110 at district levels in three categories– production, service and business.
The recognition came in the form of crests and certificates which were distributed by finance minister among the recipients.
Top national-level and Dhaka division Vat paying firms received the awards from Muhith at the yesterday’s function.
The rest of the recipients were honored at separate functions in seven divisional headquarters- Chittagong, Sylhet, Comilla, Rangpur, Rajshahi, Khulna and Jessore.
At the national level, Titash Gas Field (Brahmanbaria), Koilastila Gas Field (Sylhet) and Rashidpur Condensate Fractionate Plant (Habiganj) topped the list in production category.
Rural Electrification Board (Joar Sahara, Dhaka), Chowdhury Tea Warehouse (Chittagong) and National Television Ltd (RTV) became the highest payers under service category.
In the business category, Gallery Apex (Tongi), Aarong (Lalmatia, Dhaka) and Mostafa Mart Pvt Limited (Bashundhara City) were the highest payers.
At the district level, 39 companies were honored under production category while 35 under service and 36 under business categories.
Addressing the function, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry president Abdul Matlub Ahmad urged the government to reduce Vat rate for small and medium enterprises.
Matlub also demanded implementation of the Vat and Supplementary Duty Act-2012 Review Committee’s recommendations which include raising the Vat-free turnover to Tk36 lakh from Tk24 lakh and turnover limit to Tk1.50 crore from Tk80 lakh now for 3% turnover tax.
The government has recently increased the Vat-free turnover limit to Tk30 lakh from Tk24 lakh.
The FBCCI chief also requested the NBR to organise Vat fairs across the country to motivate and raise awareness among the businessmen to deposit the collected Vat from consumers to the government exchequer properly.
Economic affairs adviser to prime minister Masiur Rahman laid emphasis on the revenue board being careful about the acceptability of tax measures to the taxpayers.
“If the tax measures are not acceptable to the taxpayers, they will look for chances to evade taxes,” he said.
Chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on finance ministry Abdur Razzak suggested the NBR to scrutinise the possibility of fixing the minimum house rent for different posh areas in cities for income tax purpose to prevent tax evasion.
Rich people were showing house rent far below the actual figure to evade income tax, said Razzak.
He said high-income groups including doctors, engineers and lawyers were not paying tax properly.
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said the revenue board stressed the need to stop harassment to taxpayers in the process of tax payment.
NBR senior member Farid Uddin presided over the function also addressed by NBR member Enayet Hossain and Vat commissioner (Dhaka North) Masud Sadik, Vat Online Project director Rezaul Hasan.
The award recipients will enjoy a number of benefits for one year from the issuance of the date of award, which include priority while reserving seats in public transports and access to VIP lounges at the airports.
Their spouse and children will also get priority while reserving cabins in the public hospitals while the awardees will get invitations to national programmes, including any citizens’ reception organised by the municipalities and city corporations.
The programme was organised for the fifth consecutive year to create more awareness among people and businesses about paying Vat.
The NBR is assigned to collect Tk176,370 crore revenue in the current fiscal including the highest Tk64,262 crore from Vat.
