Khawaza Main Uddin
The National Board of Revenue starts enforcing compulsory use of electronic cash registers in big and medium sized shops in the six city corporations from today to strengthen collection of value added tax as a major source of revenue earning.
The revenue board, which took the decision to introduce the system following consultation with the business community, hoped that it would improve the level of efficiency not only in VAT collection but also in cash handling at the business establishments.
Some 3,000 selected business institutions will be covered by the electronic cash register system from January 1. The system will be expanded to the district-level shops later, from August 1, said the board in an official announcement on Wednesday, on the eve of the date of beginning the system.
Initially, the system is applicable for selected hotels, restaurants and fast food shops, sweetmeat shops, furniture sales centres, beauty parlours, all sales outlets in luxurious, metropolitan shopping malls, department stores, general stores, and big and medium wholesale shops and retailers.
The revenue board said the sophisticated cash register system would replace the traditional manual system and create an atmosphere of partnership between the consumers, traders and the government.
The traders will be able to pay VAT directly by having connectivity to the respective tax offices, according to the announcement.
In favour of the electronic system, the chairman of the board, Mohammmad Abdul Mazid, said it would make the transactions quicker, discourage pilferage and give dividends to the traders, apart from encouraging taxpaying habits of the people.
Earlier, delaying implementation of the decision of introduction of the system to January 1, 2009, from July 1, 2008, the revenue board had urged the businessmen to purchase machines that could store data of at least fours years on fiscal transactions, as provided for by the law.
The introduction of the electronic cash registers is part of the government’s efforts to significantly raise collection of value added tax by stopping tax evasion and generally resources domestically to meet the expenses of the national budgets.
In the current fiscal year, the government has fixed a target of collecting Tk 20,249 crore or 37 per cent of the estimated tax revenue earning target of the year in the form of VAT.
Courtesy: newagebd.com
