Al Amin :
Submission of the latest tax return filling slips is going to be mandatory to take part in any tender bidding of the government bodies and to take trade licences.
Currently, Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) is required to participate in any tender bidding and to take trade licence from the city corporations and municipalities.
“As per our proposal, people will have to submit the latest tax return filling slips, instead of the TINs,” an official of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) said.
The different bodies of the ministries will ensure the procedure aiming at increasing the number of tax return submissions and the tax net, he added.
According to the NBR data, there are 610,7,502 TIN holders in the country but only 25,54,043 people have submitted their returns so far, although the return submission is mandatory for all TIN holders, who have taxable income.
Following the backdrop of the low tax return submission, the NBR has recently held a meeting with different ministries and proposed to maintain the procedure in the two sectors.
Besides, enhancement of the tax net by reducing tax rate is a long-awaited demand of the country’s trade bodies and economists for easing doing business.
“The measure will increase the number of the tax return filling as well as tax net but the success of the initiative will depend on the institutions, who will implement it,” said Syed Aminul Kabir, former member of the NBR.
“The institutions will have to appoint extra manpower to maintain the procedure and it will be a burden for them,” he said.
“Therefore, the step is a positive sign for increasing tax net and NBR will have to monitor the procedure closely,” he added.
Prof Abu Ahmed, eminent economist, told The New Nation, “It is good initiative to increase tax net. There are many sectors in the country, where the NBR can impose mandatory to maintain the procedure.”
Besides the two sectors, the tax slips could be mandatory in export-import trading, taking credit cards, hiring convention halls, booking air tickets and using VIP lounge in the airports, among others.
NBR takes different steps to increase tax net every year but yet to be succeeded. Even more than half of the total TIN holders did not file their returns every year.
On an average, one per cent of the country’s population submits of their returns every year, whereas in India four per cent and in Nepal six per cent people submit tax files.
Like the previous year, the NBR planned to bring one crore people, who have taxable income, under the tax net but yet to be completed blaming the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
According to a study of the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) that around 67 per cent of the country’s population does not pay taxes even though they have a taxable income.
Economists have suggested increasing the tax net by reducing tax rate and identifying people, who have taxable income.
