In the face of protests by the officials of National Board of Revenue (NBR), the Ministry of Finance at last has decided to backtrack on its decision to split the NBR.
In a press release issued on Thursday, signed by the Relations Officer of the Ministry of Finance Gazi Touhidul Islam, it said the NBR will function as before until the ordinance is amended.
The customs and income tax cadre officials will conduct all activities under the existing system, the release added.
After issuing the ordinance, many tasks were yet to be implemented, including formulating a new organisational structure of two newly-formed departments.
In addition, changes were also needed to the "Allocation of Business" for the two new departments and the Income Tax Act, Customs Act, Value Added Act and the rules and regulations related to these laws.
These would be time-consuming tasks, the ministry has said, adding, since it was not possible to implement the ordinance without completing these tasks, there was no possibility of the National Board of Revenue being abolished right now.
The ministry also mentioned that after a day-long round of talks mediated by two retired members of the board, the NBR officials completely accepted the compromise proposal sent by them, but at the last moment withdrew from their work schedule and refused to join office.
In view of this, the finance ministry has decided to keep the NBR's activities running as per the previous rules until the ordinance is amended.
The ministry said necessary amendments will be made to the ordinance through discussions with the NBR and all important stakeholders on how to formulate the administrative structure for separation while keeping the interests of the BCS (Tax) and BCS (Customs and Excise) cadres intact.
"In the existing situation, all the activities of the National Board of Revenue will continue as before," the press release said.
The notification said the government had no plan to reduce the posts and titles of the members of the customs and tax cadre.
Rather, if the reform work is carried out, the number of posts for them will increase and the opportunities for promotion, including appointment to the post of secretary, will also rise significantly.
"In the larger interest of the state, at the end of the fiscal year, officers and employees of the National Board of Revenue engaged in national budget activities and revenue collection at all levels are requested to be present in the office during office hours, perform their respective responsibilities with dedication, and accelerate the country's economic activities by keeping revenue collection activities going and providing desired services to the respected taxpayers," the ministry said.
Just two days ago, Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed had said, "It won't really matter to me what they have to say about it."
This came hours after a meeting with NBR officials, following which the adviser declared the impasse had been resolved.
