The Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has formed a separate intelligence unit to detect VAT evasion cases by big companies.
According to sources at the NBR, LTU Commissioner (VAT) Shahnaj Parveen approved the formation of the new intelligence unit on September 23, which will work like NBR’s Central Intelligence Cell (CIC).Additional Commissioner Lutfar Rahman and Assistant Commissioner Badruzzaman Munshi will be there in the intelligence unit initially to carry out its function.
This unit will gather information of VAT evasion and irregularities in this regard under the LTU. This unit has been given the power to conduct drives in any business entity under the rules of 26 of the VAT Act.
“With a surprise drive, it’ll be possible to unearth the case of any VAT evasion in any business firm,” an NBR senior official told UNB.
The unit has been given power to search any import items and the transporting vehicles and seize those as per the Customs Act and VAT rules. “With the formation of the separate intelligence unit and its given power, this unit will be able to work effectively,” the NBR official said.
According to him, this unit has been formed as the NBR had decided to strengthen its scrutiny to prevent VAT evasion, aiming to achieve the revenue collection target in the national budget for the current fiscal.
“The NBR chairman has directed the field-level offices of the VAT wing to expedite their activities for achieving the [revenue collection] target for this fiscal,” he said.
The NBR has got a gigantic target of Tk 176,370 crore revenue collection for the current fiscal against Tk 135,028 last year. This year, the target was set to collect Tk 64,971 crore from income tax, while Tk 64,262 crore from VAT and Tk 18,752 from import duty. The target for export duty has been fixed at Tk 37 crore, excise duty at Tk 1,239 crore and supplementary duty at Tk 25,875.
He said, the NBR chairman has asked the field offices to regularly check VAT-19 submit papers, VAT waivers for the entities that got VAT waivers, identify the evasion at source of VAT points and collect the VAT, and communicate with the Customs House for realising the advance trading VAT.
The NBR official also said the VAT and Supplementary Duty Act-2012 will be applicable from July next year. With the enforcement of this Act, the VAT collection will go online which will reduce the hassles of its payers apart from making the VAT paper submission easier. “Then it’ll also be easier to take actions against the VAT evading entities,” he said.
In many countries, the NBR official said, the indirect tax is very negligible in the total revenue collection. “But this amount is very much high in our country. The VAT collection target for the previous year was Tk 48,264 crore while it is Tk 64,262 crore for the current fiscal.”
According to NBR statistics, a number of 750,797 entities are enlisted under the VAT and of them only 84,800 submit their VAT papers regularly, which is only five percent of the total numbers.
