Tax payment goes online in January

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will complete the tasks for introducing an online tax payment system within next month to streamline the existing tax return submission procedure, said the chairman of the board yesterday.
“We have already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to initiate the online tax payment system. In this process, taxpayers will be able to submit tax returns online from January,” said Nasiruddin Ahmed.
“We are trying hard to enhance the board’s transparency and accountability further by initiating ‘digital NBR’. Once the system is introduced, the tax collection strategy of the board will be strengthened,” he added.
He was speaking at a press briefing at the NBR office in Dhaka after signing the MoU.
The NBR and Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund (BICF) signed the MoU yesterday. The BICF is run by the IFC, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Union.
The BICF will also provide technical assistance to the NBR initiative.
In line with the MoU, there are two other methodological tasks to be done within the period to introduce the online tax payment system.
One of the tasks is to ensure online business registration of all companies and single registration number for income tax, VAT, customs and Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms.
The other is introduction of an effective online system to resolve complexities and weaknesses related to ‘tax at source’.
The NBR chairman said they would set up a national data centre and ensure that paying tax is no more a hassle.
He said the number of taxpayers has exceeded 6.45 lakh until November 8. Out of around 2.4 million taxpayer identification number (TIN) holders, 7,40,906 submitted their returns last year.
The NBR chief said a move is underway to set up ‘dedicated benches’ in the Supreme Court to handle NBR-related cases and promptly collect the revenues in due.
He also said the government plans to introduce Alternative Dispute Resolution to settle cases outside the court.

Courtesy of The Daily Star