Stop harassment by field-level VAT officials, DCCI urges NBR [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Stop harassment by field-level VAT officials, DCCI urges NBR

Local November 05, 2015

Leaders of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday demanded the National Board of Revenue take steps to stop harassment by field-level tax officials while collecting value-added tax.
They claimed that the tax officials always put pressurise on the businessmen to pay more amount in VAT than they paid in previous month without considering the actual business situation.
It is hard to convince the tax officials that VAT cannot be increased continuously in a dull business scenario, the DCCI leaders said.
At a meeting with the revenue board chairman and other members, they also demanded that a taxpayer-friendly culture be ensured and simplification of tax collection process instead of unwanted harassment to the businessmen.
NBR chairman Md Nojibur Rahman unveiled the DCCI Tax Guide for the financial year 2015-2016 at the programme.
DCCI president Hossain Khaled said there had been a dull business for the last two years and particularly small businesses had been facing challenges in doing business.
‘The field officials demand VAT at 10 per cent higher rate than businessmen paid in previous month without considering the overall dull business situation,’ he said.
The revenue board will have to address these issues, Khaled said.
In reply, the NBR chairman said that there would be no harassment from now on as the revenue board had taken a zero tolerance policy against any corruption, harassment, irregularity and misconduct.
‘I will ask the VAT offices to arrange revenue dialogue with traders to remove problems in VAT payment process,’ he said.
Replying to a question, Nojibur told reporters that there was no internal dispute among the tax officials and they were working jointly to achieve a whopping Tk 1,76,370-crore revenue collection target set for the current fiscal year.
There is nothing to worry about achieving the target as the revenue collection will grow from the current quarter of the fiscal year, he said.
‘We have taken steps to realise more than Tk 23,000 crore from different government offices as arrears. Of which, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation agreed to pay Tk 2,621 crore as VAT which it did not deposit to the government exchequer,’ the NBR chairman said.
In the first quarter, a higher target was set for the field offices while there were some challenges in imports, he said, explaining the reasons behind a Tk 5,798-crore shortfall in
collection in the period.
Despite the challenges the NBR collected Tk 31,000 crore in July-September this year against Tk 28,000 crore in the same months of the previous year, he said.
Dhaka chamber vice-president Md Shoaib Chowdhury requested for withdrawal of 15 per cent VAT on trade licence.
DCCI directors Abdus Salam and
AKD Khair Mohammad Khan also spoke at the programme.