THE tax authority had taken a wider survey on 40 companies to detect undocumented ones smelling large information gap in the data about registered foreign workers in Bangladesh. But about one year has gone; there is no development on sight in this regard. The NBR also had planned to change the strategies of survey for surprise visit to the companies instead of current procedure of giving prior information about visit. But it also didn’t work. The number provided by Bangladesh Investment Development Authority was extremely poor compared to the visible presence of foreign workers in different companies, especially in export-oriented sectors. It’s quite clear that many foreigners working in Bangladesh are deliberately bypassing registration with the BIDA in a bid to dodge tax.
In a rough estimation, there are 14,000 foreign taxpayers registered with the Income-tax Department of the National Board of Revenue. But the number should be 20 times more at the minimum. As per Department of Immigration, the number of foreigners with work permit is over 7,000. Around 4 lakh foreigners are working in Bangladesh in different organizations, including garments, textiles, buying houses, construction sites, NGOs and multinational companies. As per the Income Tax Ordinance 1984, foreign workers are required to pay 30 per cent tax on their incomes and there is no tax-free ceiling for the foreign workers who are working in Bangladesh. If any foreign worker leaves the country without paying tax, the companies concerned would be responsible for the tax evasion.
It’s a common tendency to dodge tax. It’s not only in Bangladesh but also a common scenario in almost every country across the globe. But what’s noteworthy is that, it’s too hard to dodge tax in western countries. There are strong laws and the officials concerned don’t hesitate to implement the law in necessity. In Bangladesh, it’s comparatively easy to dodge tax by the genuine taxpayers. The affluent people also dislike paying tax. However, the procedures for taxpaying have recently made easy which now encouraging people to pay their taxes.
But the NBR still could not apply any sustainable method to bring a large number of foreigners under the tax net. Even they have no exact figure of working foreigners in Bangladesh.
