The government appointed local IT service provider Genex Infosys to set up Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFD) to keep accounts of value-added tax (VAT) on behalf of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) for three years.
The three-tier commission for this organization begins with 0.52%, followed by 0.529% and 0.538%, respectively, during the three-year period.
EFDs will be installed in businesses with daily sales of more than Tk17,000 on average.
The IT service provider will install 300,000 devices in various shops and sales outlets in three regions of the country: Dhaka Metropolitan, North and West outside Dhaka and Chittagong Customs Area.
Genex Infosys was selected through an open tender, said the Additional Secretary of the Cabinet Division Abdul Barik.
Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP), during a meeting on Wednesday, approved a proposal of NBR to select Genex Infosys as a vendor to collect VAT on behalf of the government.
Cabinet Division Secretary said: “Genex, as the lowest bidder, won the contract in three lots to supply and install EFD and Sales Data Controller (SDC) or VAT collecting machines at different types of retail shops. It will also carry out the operation and maintenance work as well.”
“Genex Infosys will supply and install the machines at its own cost and in return, it will get 0.52-0.538% of the collected money as a service charge while depositing it to the government,” he added.
Earlier on August 31, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its nod in principle to this decision of NBR.
According to NBR officials, it is not possible for the government to operate so many machines across the country. That’s why service outsourcing is being done.
Currently, 39% of total revenue is collected from VAT. Installation of EFD has been made mandatory in 25 sectors, including departmental stores, retail stores, hotels and restaurants.
In 2020, NBR introduced the EFD system on a pilot basis. Twenty thousand machines were supposed to be installed within two years. But due to Covid-19, these activities become slow.
