Admitting a number of revenue officials’ corruption, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan urged businessmen to inform them if any tax officials demand bribe. “Please complain directly to our head office if any case occurs,” he said adding that they will take instant action against the corrupt officials.
The revenue board chief came up with the statement while addressing a workshop on awareness rising on ‘Value Added Tax (VAT) and Supplementary Duty Act-2012’ at CIRDAP auditorium in the capital on Saturday. Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DCCI) organised the programme. Among others, DCCI President Osama Taseer, and NBR Member for VAT implementation and IT Shahnaj Parveen, were also present on the discussion panel.
Hundreds of businesses from different sectors took part in the workshop to avail clear knowledge about the newly enacted VAT law. “Only a single or two VAT rates are prevailing almost in all developed countries, but we, considering the welfare of small and medium range businesses, have introduced multiple rates,” the NBR chief said.
Mentioning the failure of previous introduced Electronic Cash Register (ECR), the NBR Chairman said many officials went negotiations with traders and thus illegally earned money, though they were supposed to ensure ECR use. He, however, said ECR was not automated but the newly introduced Electronic Fiscal Device (EFD) is fully automated. So, there is no scope of corruption under this system.
“We believe that EFD implementation will ease the VAT collection process and this device will instantly send all sales and transaction records to NBR, ensuring revenue collection properly. He also informed that the purchase of EFD is under process and it will be provided to all eligible traders soon. “As there are huge numbers of traders, it will take time to provide the device to all,” NBR chairman said, adding that everyone must pay VAT, either getting the EFD or not.
Mosharraf urged the traders for paying VAT accurately to the exchequer, as it is collected from consumers and the traders here are just responsible for ensuring its collection and payment. Please don’t claim false turnover, evading tax because your tax contributes to the development of the country,” he said. He also said that the actual revenue collection in 2017-18 fiscal year would not more than Tk 2.3 lakhs of crores though the revised target in that fiscal was 2.8 lakhs of crores.
NBR Member Shahnaj Parveen said though developed countries collect majority of revenue from the income tax, Bangladesh has still to depend widely on VAT. Urging the traders not to dodge VAT she said they need more revenue for implementing the large target set for them. The fantastic feature of the new VAT law is online system. “Though initially we introduced the system in a limited range, including online registration and return submission, all other activities will also be brought under it,” said Parveen.
“We, the business community, want to pay VAT in a proper manner but we do not expect any harassment by tax officials,” DCCI President Osama Taseer said.
He urged the NBR to ensure harassment-free environment so that they could do business without any tension. Besides, Taseer demanded the withdrawal of newly introduced advance tax (AT) on raw materials imports, introducing rebate facility for all the VAT slabs like 15% and keeping all types of medicine out of VAT.
If the NBR do not review the provisions, inflation and daily goods prices may go up, he predicted. Responding to a question, NBR Chairman said advance tax has been introduced for bringing more transparency among tax-payers. “You (traders) can refund the money maintaining proper documents,” he said.