BSS, Dhaka :
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is planning tougher action against tax evaders to check malpractices in submitting tax return by the individual, institutions, companies and business establishments.
The action would include higher penalty and strict enforcement of criminal action, an NBR official told BSS, adding that the plan would be finalized soon to send a strong message to the errant tax payers.
Citing that many other countries were already implementing similar measures, the official said the move would be a step forward in encouraging taxpayers to pay their dues and maintain an updated tax files.
He said the officials and employees at the different circles and divisions of the NBR at a meeting last week strongly recommended increase of penalty and strict enforcement of criminal action against the tax dodgers.
The meeting discussed a work plan of the revenue authorities aimed at achieving the annual revenue target of Taka 1 lakh 49 thousand and 720 crore by the end of the current 2014-15 financial year. Besides increasing the penalty and enforcement of criminal action, the work plan also include identifying the risky and sensitive organizations in terms of revenue collection, intensifying drive to realize the dues and expediting revenue collection and speeding up disposal of pending cases.
“The tax authorities has accelerated its activities to attain the fiscal target of revenue collection from the beginning of the current financial year against the backdrop of the last year’s experience of revenue shortfall,” NBR senior member Syed Aminul Karim told BSS. He said necessary instructions had already been passed to the field level staff of NBR, suggesting them build strong relations with the tax-payers and offer people comfortable services.
He said the NBR had also planned strengthening record management, ensuring good governance in tax administration and providing tax officials with more training to make its tax collection mechanism more efficient.
Karim said the tax officials at different circles and divisions had already been given a monthly and annual collection target on the basis of the trend of the tax payments and nature of taxpayers of respective circles and divisions.
