DISCREPANCIES IN VAT RECORDS
Robi accounts frozen for 3 working days
Staff Reporter
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) yesterday asked all commercial banks to freeze the accounts of the countrys second largest telecom operator, Robi, for the next three working days. A letter signed by Matiur Rahman, commissioner of the Large Tax Unit (LTU) of the NBR, was sent to all the bank managing directors. The Independent has a copy of the letter. The letter said the LTU issued the order following the discovery of discrepancies in Robis VAT records, revealing Tk. 18.72 crore unpaid value added tax (VAT) to the national exchequer.
The LTU order was issued as per Sub-section-4, Section-26 of the VAT Act, 1991. It empowers the NBR to freeze bank accounts of an organisation for a certain period for accounts fabrication or evading taxes on an international scale.
The letter said a team from the LTU, led by an additional commissioner, visited Robi headquarters on February 7 and collected the following: trial Balance for the month of December 2017, summary of site and space rental (July 2017-December 2017), summary of SIM sales (October 2017-January 2018) and summary of the invoice to BTCL (January 2017-December 2017).
Following the LTUs internal audit and analysis of those documents, an unpaid VAT of Tk. 18.72 crore by Robi was unearthed.
The letter detailed the breakdown of the unpaid VAT. It included Tk 10.35 crore for unpaid VAT on trial balance, Tk 6.45 crore onsite and establishment cost, Tk 81.06 lakh on undisclosed SIM sales and Tk 81.71 lakh on the Inter Connection service it provided to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited (BTCL).
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Robi makes mess-up of balance sheet (16-01-2018)
Robi under NBR fire(08-02-2018)
Media can publish reports based on draft audit docs(08-02-2018)
BTRC rejoinder on Robis scam and our reply (08-02-2018)
