Individual taxpayers will have an opportunity to file their tax returns for the current fiscal year (FY2020-21) online using software in their mobile phone set.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) plans to introduce this artificial intelligence (AI)-based system to facilitate such return submission, sources said.
The online system is expected to be launch formally in September this year. The taxpayers will get a tax certificate, acknowledgement slip and TIN certificate anytime in their account.
"The NBR has planned to bring existing taxpayers under the online return system first. Gradually, we will cover almost all taxable people," said an NBR official.
The official said a 13-member team, comprising income tax and ICT officials of the NBR, started developing the system in November 2020.
The system will help taxpayers file tax returns with a few clicks from their mobile phones, said the official.
In June the NBR successful completed the user acceptance test' for the online return submission process. A total of 50 participants attended the internal test run of the online return submission software.
Earlier, the tax authorities tried twice to introduce the system but failed due to technical glitches. A team of the NBR has been able to address all the shortcomings and make them applicable, said the official.
According to the NBR, there are around four million (Taxpayers Identification Number) TIN-holders but over 1.5 million TIN-holders do not submit tax returns.
For using the new system, individual taxpayers will get user identification (user ID) and password when they will register in a site by using their biometrically verified cell-phone number.
It will be an Application Programme Interface (API), where all necessary information of taxpayers will remain interlinked with other entities including banks, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and the Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC).
The system will have interconnectivity with banks to adjust the deducted amount of source tax on bank interest automatically in the interface of a taxpayer.
Salary, allowances and other financial details of the government officials will automatically be inserted in the interface from the IBAS system.
IBAS++ (Integrated Budget and Accounting. System) is an integrated financial management information system for the Government of Bangladesh.
There will also be a 'central service centre' to resolve taxpayers' problems relating to online return filing.
Earlier, the NBR hired Vietnamese company FPT to develop an e-filing system under the Bangladesh Integrated Tax Administration System (Bitax).
However, both taxpayers and taxmen found the system complex and unfriendly.
In December 2011, the government, with fund support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), took the initiative to facilitate online tax return submission that was introduced in November 2016.
