Businesses paying more VAT due to Electronic Fiscal Devices: NBR

The installation of Electronic Fiscal Devices or EFD machines in business establishments is reaping its benefits, said the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

The businesses which used to pay Tk5,000-6,000 per month in Value Added Tax (VAT), now pay Tk50,000 monthly after installing EFD, said NBR member D Moinul Khan at a press conference organised prior to the National VAT Day (10 December) at Revenue Building in Dhaka's Agargaon on Wednesday (6 December).

He said 18,000 machines have been installed so far, a total of 60,00 will be installed in the current financial year.

NBR's server is connected to EFD machines, so any sales information inputted into EFD machine is sent to NBR. So, there is no opportunity to evade the VAT collected from the buyer.

However, if no sales information is input there, NBR does not have the opportunity to know this information, which is considered to be a big challenge for NBR. To meet this challenge, NBR has appointed a company, which will oversee the process.

NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Munim highlighted various activities at the press conference on the occasion of National VAT Day.

This year's VAT Day slogan is, "We will pay VAT, take invoice during purchases".

"Recently imports have decreased by about 30%. Yet, there was a 17% growth in VAT collection in the last five months," said Dr Moinul Khan.

He said that this progress has been made due to increased monitoring and including more business organisations under the scope of imposing VAT.

Asked whether the ongoing political unrest will affect revenue collection, NBR Member Masud Sadiq, said, everyone knows that revenue collection is better if the political environment is stable.

"However, it [political unrest] also has some positive impacts. For example, sales of cigarettes and soft drinks have increased," he added.

NBR members Zakia Sultana and Dr Shahidul Islam also spoke at the press conference among others.