National Board of Revenue (NBR) has undertaken a plan to chase and identify Bangladeshis, who have siphoned off money to settle in different countries like Malaysia under various second home schemes through massive money laundering.
The target is to collect revenue from the people, NBR Chairman Md Ghulam Hussain said in Dhaka yesterday.
He said depriving the government of huge taxes, many people have laundered money to different countries only to seek second homes.
They have taken away the money without consent from Bangladesh Bank, he said, unveiling the “Tax Pocket Guide” a 32-page publication by Eastern Bank Limited at a city hotel yesterday.
The tax guide was jointly unveiled by the NBR chairman and EBL Managing Director and CEO Ali Reza Iftekhar.
“As these people are not paying any tax in the country, the NBR can easily mobilise crores of Taka as revenue,” Ghulam said.
He also said the board would soon identify and seek info on second home seekers to Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Canada and Qatar, through the respective embassies at the initial stage.
The tax pocket guide was published to make tax computation easier for the customers and to promote tax compliant culture in the country.
Regarding the misuse of avoidance of double taxation agreements, Ghulam categorically said Bangladesh had signed treaties with 33 countries on the avoidance of double taxation avoidance, which is now being misused by some people.
“If any person operates business or settles abroad under second home scheme in these 33 countries, they can pay tax in any of the two countries in line with the agreements on the avoidance of double taxation,” he said.
“Seeking a second home is not an offence, but those people have to pay tax in any of the two countries. Availing this opportunity, many are not paying tax in any of the country,” he alleged.
Under such circumstance, the NBR has decided to take legal actions against those tax-evading people through identification and collection of primary information about them, he pointed out.
In addition to the regular tax, he also warned of recovering penalties from those people, if they were found guilty for non-payment of tax.
“Tax evasion has now become a culture as economists estimates that there should be over 60 lakh taxpayers in Bangladesh while the number of businesses are now over 80 lakhs.
However, the number of taxpayers remains unchanged from 10 to 12 lakhs for the last few years,” the NBR chairman said.
EBL CEO Iftekhar said the tax guide is to increase awareness among the bank clients, and also its officials.
