The National Income Tax Fair-2015 has become an area of interest for the younger generation as they are spontaneously seeking different tax related services, mainly for registration with Electronic Taxpayers Identification Number (E-TIN).
On the second day of the fair, young people, mostly university graduates were seen roaming around the fair to inquire about different services related to registration of e-TIN.
They were inquiring on how much benefits they could obtain if they had an e-TIN and whether the payment of tax was mandatory if the people got an e-TIN.
Tax officials said there was a perception that people had to pay tax if they got an e-TIN registration, which is wrong.
“If a person has taxable income, which is over Tk2.50 lakh, he or she will have to pay tax, but submission of return is mandatory for all the e-TIN holders,” they said.
During a visit to the ongoing fair at Officers’Club premises in Dhaka, many young people were seen receiving information from the booths about the tax payment procedure and filing forms of E-TIN registration while others from different age groups were approaching to different booths for registering their e-TIN and submitting their tax returns.
Though I am not yet eligible to pay my tax now, I am here to register with an e TIN, which can be used for obtaining services in future, said Chowdhury M Kamrul Hasan, who recently completed his MBA from a private university.
“I am filing up the form with help of tax officials, who are very supportive, so there is little chance of committing any mistakes,” he added.
Kamrul also opined that people were reluctant to get involved with the taxation process due to its lengthy procedures, so simplification of the process was required to widen the tax net.
The taxes authorities yesterday registered a total of 3,228 people with e-TIN, which is 35% higher from 2383 on the same day of the last year.
Since its introduction in 2010, the income tax fair was able to draw huge crowd as tax officials here provides one-stop services in a client friendly manner.
“Being a small businessman, I pay tax every year. Since introduction of the fair, I becomes more interested to submit my return regularly as it is hassle-free comparing to the tax circle offices,” said Mohammad Mijanur Raham, a SME entrepreneurs of Badda area of the capital.
Rahman alleged that he had to some extra money if he wanted to submit his return at his respective circle office.
He also accused some tax officials of forcing the clients to pay them bribe just delaying or lingering the taxation process.
He urged the government to arrange such fair in different part of the capital, so rest of the people could take part and pay their taxes at a wide range.
NBR officials also praised the participation of young people and said the E-TIN would attract the young people more and would help contribute to the economy, which would ultimately boost the revenue collection.
Currently, around 17 lakh people in the country holds Taxpayers Identification Number (TIN), but only around 11lakh file income tax returns in an average where the rest somehow managed to avoid the provisions.
Now it is mandatory for having a e-TIN for obtaining a number of services including registration and fitness renewal of vehicles, opening letters of credits, getting loans and credit cards, ISD telephone line and application for utility services including gas and electricity connection.
The income tax fair was held yesterday in seven divisional headquarters, 47 district headquarters and in 21 upazila’s across the country.
On the second day, the NBR bagged over Tk526 crore revenue, which is 11% higher from around Tk475 crore from the same day of last year. The taxes authorities have posted 4% growth in income tax returns collection with 17,218 returns across the country from 16,593 of last year.
A total of 1,05,357 people received different services from the fair from 92,016 of the last year.
The income tax fair will remain open from 10:00am to 5pm today, however it will be remained closed from 1pm to 2pm because of Jumma prayer.
