In addition to the national revenue target, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) is moving forward with its own plan in the shopping malls to meet the IMF's revenue target. If all preparations are completed, the NBR wants to take the field from the beginning of February.
Income tax collection has increased by 16.09 percent in the six months of the current fiscal year. According to the NBR, direct tax collection from July to December was Tk 51,824 crore which is Tk 8,500 crore less than the target.
The information was reviewed at the revenue building in Agargaon in the capital on Sunday.
At the same time, officials said that the amount of income tax collection in the same period of the last fiscal year was Tk 44,742 crore. The meeting was informed that 28 lakh 82 thousand income tax returns have been submitted till December which is about four lakh more than the same period of the last fiscal year.
On the other hand, on November 29, a notification was issued extending the time for two months, allowing individual taxpayers to submit returns till January 31 without any penalty.
Besides, the time for submitting returns of company taxpayers has also been extended. The last date for filing returns for this category of taxpayers was January 15 next year; now it's February 28.
Economists said that if revenue is collected at this pace, the revenue target of the current fiscal year will not be achieved. This time, according to the conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), there is pressure to collect additional revenue. Besides, the NBR may face a big deficit in revenue collection due to political uncertainty including strikes and blockades. In the last fiscal year, there was a deficit of about Tk 44,000 crore in revenue collection. It is feared that the deficit may be more this time.
The NBR has been given a huge revenue target of Tk 4,30,000 crore for the current fiscal year. Accordingly, 31 percent of the full-year target has been achieved so far.
One of the conditions for getting the IMF loan of $ 4.7 billion was to collect 0.5 percent more revenue than the normal growth of revenue collection every year.
The NBR is conducting a drive to verify VAT payment information of various shops in the country's renowned shopping malls. These raids will be conducted on the basis of information of VAT intelligence.
Several taskforce committees have already been formed with customs, excise and VAT commissionerate officials across the country to conduct the drive. In the first phase, the drive will be conducted in renowned shopping malls in Dhaka and Chittagong. Preparations are being made to start the operation from this week. The task force will appear at the sales establishment without notice. During the operation, care will be taken not to have any negative impact on the sales of the sales organization. This is known from the NBR report on the task force.
NBR member Dr Moinul Khan told The Daily Post that NBR collection is increasing as traders pay VAT. Businessmen are respected partners of NBR. But many are cheating on it, that's also right. Many did not even take VAT registration. They are staying out of the NBR account without taking VAT registration online. The NBR is identifying the sales organizations that have not taken VAT registration online through VAT survey. VAT payment information is also being seen. Shopping malls are no exception.
Analyzing the report, it was known that in these operations of NBR, it will be seen seriously whether the sales organizations have taken VAT registration online. If any vendor organization does not take VAT registration online, the officials of the taskforce will immediately give VAT registration. Then the VAT payment information will be scrutinized. Before the task force raids, VAT detectives will secretly collect information about the sales of big sales companies in shopping malls. The information will then be shared with the task force. The task force will match the information provided by the sales company with the information provided by the detectives during the operation.
If there is a big discrepancy in the VAT payment information, the task force committee will seize all the documents of the seller's account. After the detailed investigation, the amount of VAT evasion will be found out and the seller will be given time to pay it. In this case, the penalty will be added to the VAT due. If the VAT is not paid within the stipulated time, all the information will be sent to the VAT Audit, Investigation and Intelligence Department and asked for a detailed investigation. After a detailed investigation, the VAT detectives will summon the owner of the seller company to the VAT Commissionerate and order him to pay the VAT within 15 working days. If the VAT is not paid at this stage, the accounts of the seller and the owner will be seized, the business license will be suspended and a case will be filed.
Director General of the Directorate of VAT Audit, Intelligence and Investigation Dr Abdur Rouf told The Daily Post that if there is any discrepancy in the information of selling and paying VAT, they will be asked to pay the VAT after a detailed investigation. Strict action will be taken if VAT is not paid even after repeated instructions. Lawsuits will also be filed. Shopping malls sell well throughout the year.
The target of VAT collection in the current fiscal year is the highest. Although there is growth in collection this year, the VAT sector is lagging behind the target. Apart from this, there is pressure from the IMF to meet the target of VAT collection.
According to the report of the Task Force Committee on Operation, about 20 lakh companies are able to pay VAT in the country, but only four lakh companies have taken VAT registration online. Many companies across the country are still out of the purview of VAT which is much lower than the target from shopping malls.
Earlier, an analysis of data from NBR raids in different shopping malls showed that not even 30 to 35 percent of the target VAT is collected. 30 to 40 percent of the sales of a shopping mall takes VAT registration online, but the rest do not. Many sales organizations have also made fake certificates of VAT registration online. It was caught when it was verified online. On the other hand, 20 to 30 percent of the sales companies of shopping malls who took VAT registration online paid VAT but the rest paid much less than the calculation. Many don't pay a dime. However, there are ACs in shopping malls, citing various reasons including security, improved environment, selling quality products, higher prices are kept from buyers than outside sales companies. Most of the shopping mall customers are well-off. So even if the price is high, there is enough sales in shopping malls almost throughout the year. Sellers fix the price of the product by adding VAT. The buyer pays VAT as the price. In this way, the sellers collect VAT and keep it in their pockets and cheat the government.
Helal Uddin, president of the Bangladesh Shop Owners Association, told the Daily Post, "Good and bad are everywhere. As many shops pay VAT, many shops are not paying properly. We, the businessmen, are ready to cooperate with the NBR in this regard. The NBR has a shortage of manpower. It is not possible for the NBR to go to all the shopping malls across the country. So the NBR has to go for automation quickly."
During a drive at the Pink City Shopping Mall in the heart of Gulshan-2 in the capital, it was found that more than 200 shops were able to pay VAT, but only 64 shops took VAT registration numbers. Although only 40 companies of this shopping mall paid VAT properly, the rest paid very little VAT due to false information. VAT evasion of about Tk 241 crore was found in the sales of this shopping mall.
ARS
