bdnews24.com :
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has asked the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to not go ‘overboard’ in collecting revenue after traders alleged harassment by taxmen.
“Taxes must be collected from the taxpayers while behaving properly. The law or rules shall be amended for that if necessary,” he said at a function at the Raowa Convention Hall in Dhaka on Thursday.
The NBR organised it to observe the National VAT Day-2014 and to award the top VAT payers.
NBR acting Chairman Md Farid Uddin presided over the programme which was also attended by the Prime Minister’s Economic Affairs Adviser Mashiur Rahman and State Minister for Finance MA Mannan.
Joining the discussion at the beginning, Dhaka Metropolitan Shop Owners Association President Toufique Hasan said, “VAT officials (of the NBR) are raiding the shops in the capital and confiscating documents during peak business times ahead of the Eid.”
His remarks were greeted with applause by traders.
The association’s Secretary General M Rezaul Karim Sarkar said, “The culture of paying tax is yet to be established in Bangladesh. We are VAT collectors. We are supposed to collect VAT from the consumers and give it to NBR.”
“But we cannot force them (consumers) to pay VAT when they come to a restaurant to eat. So, why should we pay this VAT to NBR year after year? We should not be doing that,” he said.
Traders said tax should be collected properly, instead of raising the rate and emphasised more public awareness campaign.
They sought the government’s supervision so that the taxpayers are not harassed.
In his address, Tofail asked the NBR to not harass the businesses.
“You (NBR) need to be more careful instead of confiscating the ledgers during Ramadan.”
“NBR should not do anything excessive. A good rapport is needed between the traders and NBR officials.”
Farid Uddin, who is also a member of the NBR, assured the traders.
“Notify the top NBR officers directly if you are harassed anyway. We’ll immediately take measures.”
NBR at Thursday’s function awarded 122 highest VAT providing organisations. A total of 113 organisations from the district level were also awarded.
Apart from those, 27 highest VAT providing individuals from nine districts of Dhaka Division were given honorary awards.
The NBR collected Tk 110,000 crore or 1100 billion in revenue in 2012-13 financial year. Tk 400 billion of that was from VAT collections, which is 36.36 percent of the total sum.
Tk 1.49 billion has been set as the revenue collection target for the ongoing 2014-15 fiscal.
