Al Amin :
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) received Tk 962.60 crore taxes in the last six months of the current fiscal year (July-December) after several thousands individuals whitened their black money through investment in various sectors.
A total of 7,650 people have invested their undisclosed wealth in capital market and housing sector, according to the NBR,
Of them, 205 people invested in the stock markets by paying Tk 22.84 crore taxes while 7445 taxpayers invested in housing sector by paying Tk 939.76 crore as of December 31, 2020.
In a statement on Monday, NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem thanked to the individuals for legalizing their undisclosed wealth.
“Around Tk 10,220 crore have been entered the country’s formal economy so far and it is expected to play a vital role in increasing investment, employment and tax-GDP ratio,” reads the statement.
The provision of the whitening the black money will exist till June 30, 2021.
Commenting on whitening black money by paying tax, Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director of the Policy Research Institute (PRI), told The New Nation that it is noting new for the country as the facility exists for years.
“In fact, some people have been privileged from it,” he added.
Dr Mansur, a former senior executive of International Monetary Fund (IMF), said the money whitened by the people was inside the country. But those are laundering huge amount of money every year are not taking the opportunity.
“The authorities should formulate proper policy so that people feel encourage to invest their ill-gotten money inside the country,” he added.
“The provision of whitening black money helps institutionalising corruption instead of removing it from society,” said Dr Iftekharuzzaman, Executive Director of TIB.
He further said, “Honest taxpayers are being discouraged and corrupt persons are being encouraged by this move.”
The initiative of the individual taxpayers’ to invest black money inside the country instead of laundering their wealth abroad is a positive sign for our economy, he added.
The government has given the scope for investing black money in the capital market, savings certificates, bonds or any other securities, and depositing in banks, by paying a flat 10 per cent tax from July 1, 2020.
Undisclosed permanent property can also be legalised by paying a certain amount based on the size and location. The government introduced the move in a bid to counteract the economic shock resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Besides, the NBR also collected Tk 4010.19 crore income tax from the individual taxpayers during the July-December period this fiscal year.
According to an official data, some 21,51,326 individual taxpayers submitted their returns during the said period while 258041 people appealed for time extension as the last date of return submission was December 31, 2020.
The growth of the income tax collection is 4.73 per cent compared to the last fiscal year, the data said.
Some 19,25777 individual taxpayers filed returns during the corresponding period of last fiscal year and NBR collected Tk 4018.18 crore during that time.
The number of Taxpayer’s Identification Number (TIN) is 5607957 as of December 31, 2020.
