NBR eyes revenue growth as more companies pay tax

More than 4,500 companies submitted tax returns between January and June for the first time, which reflects rising interest among businesses in paying tax.

As many as 90,000 companies were brought under tax net in 2020, according to the National Revenue Board (NBR). Since the corporate tax rate has been lowered and the tax net expanded, the NBR thinks tax collection will increase further this year.

Total corporate tax collection amounted to Tk52,545 crore in 2020, which was Tk43,491 crore a year ago.

More than 1.67 lakh companies have Taxpayer's Identification Number (TIN) issued against them but only 29,785 have submitted returns.

Asking anonymity an NBR official said a large number of companies had stayed out of the tax net for a long time, but the revenue authority took an initiative to bring them under taxation. As part of that move last year, NBR created TINs for 90,000 companies that will have to submit their returns by next January.

The Income Tax Policy Department has submitted a report to the NBR chairman outlining the overall picture of corporate tax realization with a comparative picture of the number of TIN holders, number of return deposits and tax collection in the last 8 years.

The report said the growth of corporate return submissions was over 114% compared to last year.

NBR officials said there was a huge lack of good governance; business owners were not willing to pay taxes and some of them had even submitted tax returns with fake documents.

The revenue collector has identified hundreds of companies that made separate financial statements -- one for getting bank loans and another to evade taxes. It also identified chartered accountant firms that had signed those fake documents.

Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) Chairperson Abul Kasem Khan said, "If the government reduces tax rate, the tax net will increase. When the tax rate is high, taxpayers calculate their loss and profit."

If the government honours taxpayers, others will feel encouraged too to pay tax, Kasem said.

Tax return audit is a big hassle for taxpayers, he said, adding that the process should be simplified. "People believe what they can see. They know that Padma Bridge is being constructed with their tax money."