National Board of Revenue Chairman (NBR) Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan has admitted corruption by some revenue officials and urged businesspeople to raise their voice if any official offers them unfair means during tax collection or try to harass them.
“File complaints directly with the NBR in such cases. We will take instant action,” he assured.
The revenue board chief said these while addressing a workshop on awareness rising on “Value added tax (VAT) and supplementary duty act 2012” at CIRDAP auditorium on Saturday.
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DCCI) organized the program while DCCI President Osama Taseer, its other members, and NBR Member Shahnaj Parveen (VAT implementation and IT) were present, among others.
Mentioning the failure of previously introduced electronic cash register (ECR), the NBR chairman said many officials went for negotiation with traders and illegally earned money, though they were supposed to ensure ECR use.
He, however, added that ECR was not automated and noted that the newly introduced electronic fiscal device (EFD) was fully automated, which would check corruption.
“We believe that EFD implementation will ease the VAT collection process,” said Mosharraf, adding that the machine would sent sales and VAT collection records to the NBR instantly.
He informed that EFD buying was under process and traders would get them soon.
“As there are a huge number of traders, it will take time to provide the machine for all,” the NBR chairman observed, adding that everyone must pay VAT, whether they get the EFD or not.
Mosharraf urged the traders for paying accurate VAT, which they collected from customers, to the country’s exchequer.
On VAT threshold, he urged the businesspersons not to claim false turnover and evade VAT. “Your tax will contribute to the development of the country,” he added.
NBR Member Shahnaj Parveen noted that while the developed countries were collecting the major share of the revenue from income tax, Bangladesh still depended on VAT and customs.
Urging the traders not to dodge VAT, she said, “We need more revenues for implementing the large budget.”
"The fantastic feature of the new law is online system. Though initially we have introduced the system on a limited scale, it will be applied in all procedures soon,” Parveen projected.
DCCI President Osama Taseer said: “We the businesspeople want to pay proper VAT and tax but do not want any harassment.”
He urged the NBR to ensure harassment-free environment so that they could do business without any tension.
Besides, Taseer demanded withdrawal of the newly introduced advance tax (AT) on imports of raw materials, introducing rebate facility for all the VAT slabs like 15% and keeping all types of medicine out of VAT purview.
"If the NBR does not review the provisions, inflation and prices of daily goods may go up," he warned.
Responding to a question, the NBR Chairman said advance tax was introduced for bringing more transparency among taxpayers.
“You (traders) can refund the money maintaining proper documents,” he said.
