Badrul Ahsan :
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is set to quickly resolve disputes relating to value-added tax (VAT) amounting Tk 5,171 crore with mobile operators and the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) outside the court, sources said.
To this effect, the revenue authority has recently formed a high-powered committee headed by NBR member (VAT policy) Jahangir Hossain to study the disputes, discuss with the parties and find out ways and place their recommendations accordingly.
The committee consists of representatives from the Association of Mobile Telephone Operators of Bangladesh, BTRC, Large Taxpayers Unit and lawyer Tanjib-ul-Alam who will also work together to expedite the process of settlement of the cases at courts.
The committee was formed at a meeting attended by high officials of mobile operators, BTRC and the NBR held at the NBR, with its chairman Md Nojibur Rahman in the chair.
Of the amount, the accumulated claims of the revenue board from the mobile operators stood at Tk 4,405 crore in VAT in five disputes, while BTRC owes Tk 766 crore in VAT in five disputes with the tax authority.
Most of the cases have long remained pending with the courts, including Appellate Division and NBR’s VAT Tribunal.
People having involvement with the development told The New Nation that the committee would also work together for bringing the case relating to VAT registration of the BTRC in cause list of the Appellate Division so that the dispute can be resolved soon.
Court verdict on VAT registration of the BTRC will facilitate settlement of some other disputes, they said.
The committee will also identify disputes particularly of those which have not been challenged in the court by the mobile operators to solve outside the court.
The big dispute in terms of tax amount between the NBR and mobile companies is related to SIM replacement tax in two phases worth Tk 2,048 crore and Tk 883 crore respectively.
The NBR’s VAT Tribunal in June gave a verdict in favour of the LTU for VAT within three months but operators went to the High Court against the decision.
The LTU also issued a notice to the operators for paying the second phase SIM replacement tax.
The other disputes include interest on SIM tax, VAT on commercial rent and illegal rebate.
On the other hand, the major dispute between the LTU and telecom regulator is related to VAT worth Tk 269 crore on 2G license fee of Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi and Citycell.
The other disputes are VAT deduction at source on revenue sharing, VAT on merger fee of Robi and Airtel, VAT on 3G license fee of Teletalk and VAT on annual license fee and license acquisition fee of BTCL.
