Business Desk :
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has filed cases against three companies under the Swan Group for evading value-added tax (VAT).
Tk136.05 crore secret sales account has been seized after conducting an investigation and through this, Swan Group has evaded the government’s VAT of Tk36.69 crore, according to the NBR’s VAT Audit, Intelligence & Investigation Directorate.
The three accused companies mainly manufacture and supply foam, mattresses, chemicals and related products.
In this regard, an NBR official told that “Based on allegations, three separate cases have been filed under the VAT Act against the three companies of the Swan Group on Tuesday.”
“The cases will be forwarded to the concerned VAT Commissionerate (Dhaka North and Dhaka South) soon for further legal action on VAT collection,” the official added. Apparently, a person, unwilling to be named, lodged a complaint with the VAT Intelligence Directorate claiming that Swan Group has been evading a huge amount of VAT for a long time by providing services other than invoices.
After investigating this, the VAT Intelligence Directorate got to the bottom of the matter.
According to the NBR sources, at the beginning of the investigation, the officials were requested to show the VAT related and commercial documents of the organisation. After examining that information, they found it inconsistent with the VAT documents.
According to the investigation, from January 2016 to November 2021, Swan Industries Ltd (foam) sold products worth Tk105.60 crore. However, they showed that their sales were Tk31.16 crore during this time. The difference between the disclosed sale and the actual sale is found to be Tk74.44 crore.
In this case, VAT evasion was Tk11.16 crore. As per the VAT Act, with a monthly interest rate of 2%, another Tk9.21 crore is applicable on this evasion.
During the same period, Swans Group’s other organization, Swan Industries Ltd (mattress) sold products worth Tk86.40 crore. However, they disclosed Tk42.74 as their sales volume. The difference between the disclosed sale and the actual sale is found to be Tk43.66 crore.
At this time, VAT evasion was Tk6.54 crore. As per the VAT Act, with a monthly interest rate of 2%, another Tk5.04 crore is applicable on this evasion.
Meanwhile, during the period of January 2016 to November 2021, Swan Chemicals Ltd sold products worth Tk47.06 crore. But they disclosed Tk29.13 as their sales volume. The difference between the disclosed sale and the actual sale is found to be Tk17,93,19,417.
