Staff Reporter :
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has given a first-ever opportunity to the new individual taxpayers for submitting their income tax returns without penalty till 30 June, 2023.
However, the regular taxpayers will be subjected to filing their returns by 30 November for the current tax year (2022-23).
Usually, the deadline of submission of the income tax returns of the individual taxpayers ends on November 30. But, the NBR has extended the deadline for the new Tax Identification Number (TIN) holders, who will submit their returns for the first time this year, till June 30, 2023, officials said.
The initiative has been taken to increase the number of return submission, they added.
Around 25-26 lakh, out of 80 lakh TIN holders, submit their tax returns each year.
Bringing all the TIN holders to the tax net, the revenue board mandated return submissions from the current fiscal year. On the other hand, the regular individual taxpayers have to pay 2.0-per cent penalty per month in case of their failure to meet the deadline. In the Income Tax Circular-2022, the NBR explained the detailed measures on income-tax provisions for the current fiscal year.
According to tax officials, the NBR has amended the definition of “Tax Day” in the current fiscal budget for new taxpayers.
In the fiscal year 2022-23, the NBR made submission of proof of a tax return slip mandatory for obtaining 38 types of government services, including opening and continuing bank accounts, and utility services. A senior tax official said the fiscal measure would be a boon for the government to bring a large number of taxpayers under the tax net.
Although the NBR made submission of returns mandatory for all TIN-holders, many have bypassed the law in the past few years, the official cited.
From this fiscal, TIN-holders would not be able to obtain necessary services without submitting their tax return slips, the official said. In case of not submitting the slip, the circular says, tax will be deducted at a rate of 50 per cent where deduction of tax at source is applicable.
Service providers must verify the authenticity of tax return slips entering into a website prior to providing the services, the official said.
In case of detection of any fake taxpayer who obtained a particular service without submitting returns, the service provider would be penalised up to Tk 1.0 million by the taxman.
The NBR has developed a tax-return verification module for service-providing entities in recent times.
