Political unrest can impact revenue collection: NBR chairman
"This is an election year, there is a dollar crisis, imports are going down and businesses are not doing well. Therefore, achieving the revenue target is a big challenge," NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem said today
Political unrest in the country can affect revenue collection, National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem said today.
"This is an election year, there is a dollar crisis, imports are going down, and businesses are not doing well. Therefore, achieving the revenue target is a big challenge," he said at a press conference held on the occasion of Income Tax Information and Service Month.
Declaring November as Income Tax Service Month, Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem highlighted the NBR's various tax collection initiatives at the press conference attended by senior NBR officials.
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Responding to a question about businessmen being unable to reach the NBR chairman, he said, "Who said I am not reachable? Come and see how many people I attend to.
"If everyone keeps coming to me with special requests, then when will I do other work for NBR?"
The NBR chairman also said, "If anyone has a specific complaint, then they should make it known. Some people come with a transfer request. I will not cater to those."
About his achievements while serving as chairman, he said, "There has not been significant progress in terms of revenue collection. However, some work has been done in terms of policy and automation."
The process of submitting income tax returns online has been simplified this year, the NBR chairman said, adding that he expects a large number of returns to be submitted online this time.
He said that about 28,000 returns have been submitted online in the past two weeks.
Over 3.5 million returns have been submitted in fiscal year 2022-23, which is 36% more than fiscal year 2021-22. In addition, there has been a 29% growth in return submission in the first three months (July to September) of current fiscal year, he added.
National Income Tax Day is on 30 October. There is a provision for not submitting a return by that day. Although the time has been extended in the past, the provision added to the law this time allows taxpayers to submit returns at any time. However, if they submit after 30 November, they will not be eligible for any tax rebate on their investments, in addition to a 4% penalty.
