Field taxmen must ensure quick deposition of tax money

The National Board of Revenue on Tuesday asked its field-level officials to deposit revenue payment instruments submitted by the income taxpayers within 24 hours of the submission or reasonable time for ensuring timely deposition of government money to the state exchequer.
NBR officials said the move would also prevent misuse of revenue payment tools including pay-orders, account payee cheques and demand-drafts submitted by the taxpayers and reduce the discrepancy in the figure of revenue collected by the NBR and calculated by the Office of the Controller General of Accounts.
In an office order issued on the day, the revenue board instructed all income tax commissioners across the country for taking necessary initiatives so that field-level officials deposit pay-orders, demand-drafts and cheques to the government exchequer within the directed time after submitted by the taxpayers.
The NBR took the initiative in line with a decision of the Cash and Debt Management Committee of the finance ministry. The committee on December 12 requested the revenue board for issuing an order in this connection.
Currently, taxmen at the field offices can hold the instruments months after months so that they can deposit to the government accounts at a particular month in which the field offices face shortfall in revenue collection as such practices help them achieve the target set by the revenue board. Tax officials take the advantage in absence of any strict regulations in this regard.
Taxmen are generally instructed to deposit pay-orders, cheques and demand-drafts to the Bangladesh Bank or Sonali Bank nominated as government treasury banks immediately after receiving the instruments from the taxpayers, a field-level taxman told New Age on Tuesday.
In most cases, tax officials deposit the instruments to the state coffer within a month after preparing treasury challan and completing other procedures, he said.
The field officials cannot complete the procedures of the pay-orders or cheques immediately for depositing due to severe shortage of manpower, the tax official claimed.
But in many cases, they hold the instruments up to six months upon validity of the pay-orders and account payee cheques and deposit later when they face shortfall in revenue collection, he added.
Pay-orders or account payee cheques usually do not have any expired data.
The delay in deposit of revenue to the treasury causes resource scarcity for the government in meeting its development and non-development expenses, the NBR officials said.
It also creates gap in the figure of revenue accounts maintained by the NBR and the CGA office weakening the government’s fiscal policy and fiscal framework as the government prepares the documents based on the estimation of revenue collection.
The difference in revenue accounts between the two agencies stood at up to Tk 13,700 crore in the last fiscal year 2014-2015 from Tk 2,923 crore in the FY11.
The new instruction will also prevent forgery of public money as there are allegations that tax officials in connivance of bank officials take financial benefits through misusing the instruments particularly pay-orders, the NBR officials said.
Earlier in 2014, the revenue board detected pay-order forgeries and found that some pay-orders went missing but the revenue amount was encashed under different names instead of the government exchequer.
Tax officials can also facilitate financial benefit to the taxpayers and banks through making delay in depositing the instruments.

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