The National Board of Revenue is going to launch online income tax return submission system from January 2015 to facilitate hassle-free tax payment by the taxpayers, the revenue board chairman Ghulam Hussain said on Wednesday. He also said that income tax would be the largest sector of revenue collection, for the first time in the country’s history, in the next fiscal year of 2014-15 as the NBR expected to collect from the sector around 38 per cent of the total revenue collection target of Tk 1,49,720 crore.
Earlier, value-added tax was the top contributor to total revenue collection followed by income tax. In the current fiscal year, the NBR set to collect 37.5 per cent of total revenue from VAT and 35.5 per cent from income tax.
Around 35 per cent revenue is expected to come from
value-added tax sector while the remaining 27 per cent from customs duties, he said.
‘The online tax return filing system will be launched in January on a pilot basis and it will become fully operational from July next,’ he said at a programme on launching e-TIN service centre at BCS Tax Academy at Moghbazar in the city.
Taxpayers will be able to file their income tax return and pay taxes online without visiting tax offices, he said, adding that taxpayers will pay their taxes directly from their bank accounts.
The NBR will build a linkage with all banks and introduce electronic signature system to make the payment secured, he said.
He said that the NBR would have to ensure 22 per cent growth in revenue earnings to achieve the target set for the next fiscal year compared to that of the current fiscal year.
Ghulam said that the revenue board would be able to achieve the revised target of revenue earnings of Tk 1,25,000 crore set for the current fiscal year.
In reply to a question, he said that there would be no shortfall in revenue collection in the current fiscal year as the NBR intensified its efforts and monitoring to achieve the target by the end of the year.
‘Last three months of the fiscal year is the best time for tax collection and hopefully we will reach the target despite significant amount of shortfall in the first three quarters,’ he said.
The revenue board fell short of target by Tk 7,968 crore in July-March period of the fiscal year, according to the NBR provisional data.
After inaugurating the online taxpayer identification number service centre, he said that so far around 12 lakh taxpayers including 3 lakh new ones registered under the system to obtain e-TIN.
According to the NBR estimate, some 6 lakh existing taxpayers are yet to register under the system to obtain e-TIN.
Officials of the revenue board hoped that the left out taxpayers would obtain their e-TIN by
June 30, the deadline for e-TIN registration.
Ghulam said that every day around 500 to 600 people could get services from the centre while taxpayers would get such services from the zonal offices of income tax wing of the NBR.
From the centre, taxpayers, including expatriate Bangladeshis, can obtain e-TIN, user ID against TIN, and correct mistakes in e-TIN such as names of father, mother, husband, wife, address, mobile phone number, sex, tax circle etc. The centre will remain open from 10 am to 5 pm every day, except holidays, until June 30 next.
The NBR chairman said that the revenue office would be fully automated by July 2015 and then revenue collection activities would be regulated and monitored centrally.
He said that the revenue board had found around 4,500 proposals, out of 5,000 proposals, seeking duty cut to protect local industries.
-With New Age input
