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Experts at a webinar on Monday said that income tax, value added tax (VAT), and customs management system of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) need to be more taxpayer-friendly.
Speedy completion of various automation activities of the NBR and better coordination among the three departments should be focused in this regard, they said at a webinar organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB.)
“There is no inter-departmental connectivity for proper coordination among the three departments, Mohammad Humayun Kabir,” the former ICAB president pointed out.
Although online tax payment has been talked about for many years, the progress, in reality, is very little, Md Farid Uddin, former NBR member said at the webinar presided over by ICAB President Md Shahadat Hossain.
Speakers participating in the discussion expressed their dissatisfaction with the current status of the three laws of the NBR.
They raised the issue of Income Tax Law and Customs Law not yet being passed despite long discussions.
They also said that the new VAT law has also been distorted from the proposed law of 2012.
Farid Uddin questioned the rationale of the existing 15% VAT rate.
He said it was necessary to consider how effective VAT will be at 15% rate because although large companies have the opportunity to take rebates, it becomes more than 15% in some cases due to the cascading effect for small companies.
Former NBR member Ranjan Kumar Bhowmik pointed out several inconsistencies and misinterpretations in the latest circulars (directives) issued by the Finance Act and Tax Department.
He also said that due to these misinterpretations, the stock market has been affected recently.
He also asked how much benefit the tax amnesty given in the budget will actually provide in bringing the assets held abroad into the country.
He said it needs to be seen whether people use this opportunity and smuggle wealth out of the country and then bring it back with the benefit of 7% tax.
Professional accountants Snehasish Barua and Lutful Hadee presented the keynote paper, while NBR members Mohammad Jahid Hasan, Abdul Mannan Skiker spoke among others.
(DT)
