4 oil cos get ultimatum to cough up Tk 2,689cr VAT arrears

The National Board of Revenue has issued a final demand notice to four oil companies of the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation for paying up the arrears of Tk 2,689 crore in value-added tax within one week, officials said.
They said the Chittagong Customs, Excise, and VAT Commissionerate under the revenue board issued the notice last week to Padma Oil Company, Meghna Petroleum, Jamuna Oil, and Standard Asiatic Oil Company Limited.
The revenue board will freeze the bank accounts of the companies if the outstanding VAT is not paid by the stipulated time, they added.
Of the total VAT dues, the companies evaded payment of Tk 2,018 crore in July 2013 to June 2015 and Tk 671 crore had remained unpaid till February last.
The Chittagong VAT commissionerate by scrutinizing the data of imported and refined petroleum last year detected that the oil companies paid VAT and advance trade VAT during the period less than what they collected from consumers.
According to the analysis of the commissionerate, the companies paid Tk 5.44 per litre of diesel as VAT and ATV, although they collected Tk 9.68 from the consumers in FY2013-14. The companies paid Tk 6.91 as VAT including ATV in 2014-15. That means the companies paid Tk 4.24 and Tk 2.77 less as VAT in FY14 and FY15 respectively.
An NBR high official said the tax authority had been trying in vain to realise the arrears for the last several months, as the companies did not respond to the NBR efforts.
Now, the Chittagong VAT office has taken legal steps to freeze the bank accounts of the companies to realise the arrears in line with the instructions of government high-ups.
Earlier, NBR chairman Md Nojibur Rahman sought intervention of the finance minister for realizing the outstanding VAT from the companies. He also wrote a letter to the secretary to the ministry of energy and mineral resources requesting him to take the necessary steps in this regard.
Officials said representatives of the NBR VAT wing, BPC and the companies might sit in a meeting on Wednesday in Chittagong to resolve the issue.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net