Staff Correspondent
The government has decided to set up an automated Duty Exemption and Drawback Office (DEDO) aiming to reduce time to collect bills of entry from the customs houses through online across the country.
“Collection of DEDO copy of bills of entry that is one of the major hassles often takes a long time. We have decided to collect the copy directly from the customs house through online,” said the DEDO Director General (DG) Nasir Uddin.
The DEDO usually writes letter to the customs house to send a copy of bill of entry as a document to examine eligibility of duty drawback. It takes at least one month to get the copy from respective customs house due to procedural delay, Nasir Uddin mentioned.
It was also taken decision to mainly simplify the duty exemption and drawback systems. Earlier, a sub-committee of the Regulatory Reforms Commission (RRC) also proposed to simplify the duty exemption and drawback system.
“We have decided to request the Chittagong customs house and IT department of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to send the bills of entry online through ASYCUDDA++ system,” he said.
The automation will be introduced gradually to expedite the DEDO activities. In the first phase, we will prioritise the collection of bills of entry, he said. The DEDO is also trying to stop misuse of duty exemption facilities offered to the export-oriented business sectors, he said.
“The number of allegations of misuse of the duty drawback facilities has declined significantly following strict monitoring of the office,” he added.
“We are holding a series of meetings with all stakeholders, businesses and exporters to resolve confusion over the duty drawback system,” he said.
A businessman can claim duty drawback or duty exemption facility within six months of exporting an item for which he has paid taxes for production of raw materials. The businessman can also claim duty exemption or drawback on the amount paid for on utility services or fuel consumption for production of exportable goods.
For the current fiscal, the government has allocated Tk 1.75 billion for the DEDO office to give duty refund to the exporters. Of the amount, the DEDO has disbursed Tk 135 million until October last.
Courtesy: thebangladeshtoday.com
