15,000 cases involving Tk 26,000cr await settlement
The government has decided to appoint a panel of lawyers at the National Board of Revenue to conduct tax-related cases to recover huge amount of revenue, officials said.
The Internal Resources Division of the finance ministry at an inter-ministerial meeting on January 6 took the decision for speedy settlement of the cases pending at different courts to recover huge amount of taxes remained stuck due to disputes between the tax administration and taxpayers, they said.
The meeting headed by the then IRD secretary, Ghulam Hussain, also set a package of remuneration for the lawyers.
According to the data of the revenue board, there are around 15,000 cases, involving Tk 26,000 crore in revenue, related to income tax, customs duty and value-added tax waiting for settlement at High Court and tribunals of the revenue board.
Officials said that it became quite impossible for the government counsels and the revenue board to conduct such a huge number of cases without own lawyers.
According to the decision, the lawyers known as retainer advocates will conduct all activities related to cases including preparing drafts for cases and attending hearings for the revenue board.
Retainer advocates work for an organisation on contractual basis but are not full-time employees of the organisation.
They get payment on a regular basis and perform legal services whenever the organisation needs.
Officials said that lawyers would be appointed for different regions in the country for the three wings of the revenue board — income tax, customs duty and VAT.
The number of lawyers in the panel, however, is not decided yet, they said.
Under the agreement, a retainer advocate will not conduct any cases having conflict of interest of the revenue board.
Currently, government prosecutors under the Attorney General Office fight for the cases on behalf of the revenue board.
In many cases verdicts come against the revenue board despite the cases have sufficient merits and grounds in favour of the tax administration because of inexperience of government lawyers regarding tax laws, officials of the NBR said.
On the other hand, taxpayers usually appoint the most senior and experienced lawyers and government lawyers cannot contend against them and the government are losing huge amount of taxes, they said.
The revenue board had appointed three retainer advocates in 2005 for three years.
There are no such counsels for the revenue board after the completion of their contractual appointment in 2008.
Officials said that the NBR would advertise in the newspapers soon seeking applications from suitable candidates for the posts.
According to the proposal, a lawyer will get Tk 50,000 a month as retainer fee, Tk 10,000 for drafting and filing a case and completing affidavit, Tk 2,000 for appearing at courts a day, Tk 30,000 a month for hearing cases, Tk 7,000 for others.
Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith has already approved the proposal of appointing retainer advocates, officials said adding that now they would seek approval for the proposed remuneration package.
-With New Age input
