Large Taxpayer Unit (value-added tax) of the National Board of Revenue has sought instructions from Attorney General Office on realising additional Tk 49.53 crore accrued as interest of unpaid VAT from the mobile phone operator Grameenphone, officials said.
In mid-December, the LTU sought suggestions from the government legal office as the LTU remained in confusion if there would be any legal complexity on taking steps to realise the amount following a directive of the Appellate Division, they said.
Since 2005, the LTU (VAT) has been demanding Tk 18.55 lakh as VAT on lease money for using optical fibre network of the Bangladesh Railway and Tk 12.42 crore as interest at the rate of 2 per cent for seven years from 1997 to 2004 for non-payment of VAT amount.
The BR had signed an agreement with the country’s largest mobile phone operator in 1997 allowing the latter to use its optical fibre communication network.
The LTU is also demanding additional Tk 49.53 crore as interest at the rate of 2 per cent for 100 months from April 2005 to 2013 for non-payment of initially demanded money.
Officials of the revenue board said GP was supposed to pay VAT at the rate of 15 per cent on the lease amount for using Bangladesh Railway optical fibre network in line with the VAT Act-1991.
The law also said VAT defaulters would have to pay additional 2 per cent interest on principal amount until it was paid.
In 2012, GP had filed a writ petition against the NBR directive which said a lessee would have to pay 15 per cent VAT on lease amount.
The High Court had put a stay order for four months on LTU activities on the issue.
Following a leave to appeal by the NBR, Appellate Division had put stay order on the effectiveness of the rule issued by the High Court until the writ petition was solved.
The officials said the mobile operator did not pay the due revenue to the government exchequer despite being served with repeated notices.
After getting the verdict of the Appellate Division, LTU again served notices to GP asking for paying a total of Tk 80.50 crore.
‘In the first demand notice issued in 2005, there was a condition that the LTU would add interest amount until the principal amount is paid,’ a high official of the revenue board said.
He said, ‘Now the LTU is not sure whether there is a possibility of legal complexity if it demands additional interest amount in line with the initial demand notice.’
The LTU has sought suggestion of attorney general Mahbub-e-Alam to avoid legal problems in future in this regard, he said.
The LTU will proceed to realise the unpaid taxes after getting opinion from the attorney general office, the officials said.
They said GP had got enough time on the issue and the LTU wanted to solve the matter as soon as possible.
-With New Age input
