RAB wants mobile courts for VAT recovery

Rapid Action Battalion has made a proposal to the National Board of Revenue for conducting drives against tax dodgers through the mobile courts in a bid to prevent tax evasion and accelerate revenue collection.
In a recent written proposal to the revenue board chairman, RAB director general Benazir Ahmed requested for inclusion of the Value-Added Tax Act-1991 in the schedule of the Mobile Court Act-2009 so that executive magistrates of the law enforcing agency can conduct drives against VAT dodgers.
He also forwarded a copy of the proposal to the home ministry under which the mobile court act works.
In the letter, Benazir said the drives under the mobile court act conducted by the RAB executive magistrates were being praised by cross section of people for its success in preventing various offences including food adulteration, fake doctor, selling date expired and counterfeit medicine and cosmetics, clinic and diagnostic centre without licence and illegal blood banks.
RAB mobile courts cannot conduct drives to prevent VAT related offices as the VAT act is not included in the schedule of mobile court act, he said.
‘As a result, VAT evasion tendency has been increasing over the years and the government is losing huge amount of revenue,’ the letter stated.
There are allegations that traders at shopping malls at divisional cities and district headquarters do not deposit VAT collected from the consumers, it said.
Business entities identified by the revenue board are not installing and using electronic cash register and point of sales terminals in line with the order of the NBR, causing significant revenue loss of the government, it added.
In this context, RAB executive magistrates will be able to conduct mobile courts for preventing such offences with the coordination of the VAT and customs officials if the VAT act is included in the schedule of the mobile court act, RAB said in its proposal.
Such initiative will prevent VAT evasion, increase awareness among the traders about the revenue payment, protect interest of consumers and help in achieving revenue collection target of the NBR, it said.
Officials of the revenue board said that VAT policy wing of the NBR would scrutinise the proposal and take next step on the matter.
They said that under the existing VAT act, NBR officials can seek cooperation of law enforcing agencies including police and Border Guard Bangladesh to discharge their duties under the act and law enforcing agencies are bound to extend cooperation.
Now, it is up to the high-ups of the government whether they will entertain the proposal of RAB or not, the officials added.
The revenue board should consider the consequences including the possible reaction of taxpayers about conducting drives by mobile courts wherein taxpayers frequently alleges about harassment against the VAT intelligence while conducting drives, thy said.
Earlier in May, some field-level officials of the income tax wing of the NBR also made such proposal for facilitating drives by the mobile courts against the business people and professionals who do not display the income tax certificates at business offices and chambers.
Income tax policy wing then did not consider the proposal.

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