The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will never favour any person and exempt his or her taxes and would never work for any particular person, said its chairman M Mosharraf Hossen Bhuiyan yesterday. “I will not exempt tax or VAT for any specific person and never create discrimination,” he said while addressing a press briefing ahead of International Customs Day 2018 at the NBR conference room in the capital’s Segun Bagicha area.
The theme of the day is ‘A secure business environment for economic development’. He said the NBR was committed to ensuring a business-friendly environment and wants to contribute to the economy’s development.
The NBR would soon introduce the project of ‘authorized economic operators (AEOs)’ on an experimental basis to assist clearance of import-export goods at low cost and in the shortest possible time, Bhuiyan announced.
“We’re going to introduce this special facility to assist the business houses. As the country’s business sector is gradually expanding, the Customs department would have to maintain pace with it. This step is to modernise our Customs,” said the NBR chairman.
He further said the AEO facility would help businesses expand in the country. The NBR will speedily complete the process of giving business houses AEO status, he added.
The NBR chairman said at the workshop that those business houses that have good business records and are technically sound will be designated AEOs. They would have to face fewer inspections while obtaining clearance from Customs for their products intended for imports and exports at the ports, he explained.
He added, “We want to create trade facilitation through the Customs department as Bangladesh has ratified the trade facilitation agreement (TFA) of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which is likely to expedite the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit.”
Bangladesh is the 94th member of the WTO and the 12th least-developed country (LDC) to ratify the deal, concluded at the WTO's 2013 Bali ministerial conference.
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) and Anti-Corruption Commission will work jointly and independently to stop money laundering and identify illegal money, he said.
“They will not work under Bangladesh Bank, headed by a deputy director of the central bank,” the NBR chairman said. “They will share the information with others.” To implement this initiative, a memorandum will be signed among the ACC, CIID and BFIU within a few days, the NBR chief disclosed.
He said the NBR will control exports and imports to tackle illegal money laundering, barring some rules and regulations of the commerce ministry.
Regarding the NBR’s efficiency, he said they will enhance manpower and provide training to build up skills among the officials. The tax net would be expanded after increasing the manpower of the enhanced NBR, he said.
He also said in reply to a query that till December 31, the NBR collected a total of Tk 92,000 crore in the last six months of the current fiscal year, with the rate of growth being 14 per cent compared to the last fiscal year during the corresponding period. However, he disclosed that in terms of the total target of Tk 248 crore lakh, it is lagging behind the target. “We are lagging behind the target by at least Tk 10,000 crore,” Bhuiyan said, but added confidently: “We will be able to achieve the target in the next six months.”
He emphasised the need to increase the tax-GDP ratio, though not by exerting pressure on the taxpayers. He also said the NBR’s dues amount to Tk 50,000 crore from the different organisations that are under trial. “I will raise the issue at the Cabinet meeting so that the government takes initiatives to ensure payment of the dues,” he noted.
Among the dues are Tk 22,000 crore of Petrobangla, Tk 2,900 crore of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), Tk 550 crore of the immigration department and Tk 500 crore of BTRC.
He also the NBR is being proactive to recover the dues by settling the ongoing cases on revenue dues.