Online Desk: National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem has expressed concern over achieving the tax-collection target this year as the local political atmosphere started to heat up with the national election slated for January 2024.

Besides, the ongoing dollar shortage, plummeting imports and overall sluggish business activity have made achieving the revenue-collection target further challenging, said Muneem, also the senior secretary of the Internal Resources Division (IRD).

The government has set a tax revenue collection target of Tk 4.3 trillion for the current fiscal year (FY). In the first quarter (July-September), the revenue board achieved 14 per cent growth over the corresponding period but lagged behind its target by Tk 80 billion.

At a press briefing on Tuesday to celebrate Income Tax Information Dissemination Service Month at NBR premises, the revenue board chairman said the tax authority would hold mini-tax fairs in their respective field-level tax offices in November to facilitate taxpayers in submitting tax returns easily by the deadline of November 30, 2023.

He said the NBR has also developed an updated online tax return submission portal so that taxpayers can submit their tax returns without visiting tax offices.

Apart from tax zones, the revenue board would open separate booths at the Secretariat, Officers’ Club, Dhaka University and Dhaka Cantonment for tax return submission.

On the decision not to hold a central tax fair, Mr Muneem said that mini-tax fairs at tax circles are more effective. He said the online tax return system has been upgraded for taxpayers having source tax deductions to enable all types of taxpayers to submit tax returns.

Taxpayers would get an acknowledgement receipt and tax certificate by submitting online tax returns.

He said the number of taxpayers is increasing day by day, but the NBR’s focus is to collect proper taxes from individuals.

The number of Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) holders increased by 0.3 million in the July-September period to 9.3 million, from 9.0 million last year. In FY22, there were some 7.7 million TIN holders.

The number of tax return submissions increased from 2.5 million in 2021-22 to 3.5 million in the last fiscal year.

In the July-September period, the NBR received another 0.43 million tax returns, achieving a 29 per cent increase over the corresponding period.

Some 27,612 taxpayers submitted their returns online in the first fifteen days of October after the portal resumed operations.

Last year, some 244,881 taxpayers submitted tax returns online, which was 61,203 in the previous year.

The NBR chairman advised taxpayers to submit tax returns as soon as possible to avoid interruptions on the online return portal due to the rush of taxpayers.

On his achievements during the last two years, the chairman humbly submitted that he had not achieved any significant outcomes on revenue collection due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but that he had made progress on legal reforms and automation.

He said the customs act, pending since 2014, would be tabled in parliament on Tuesday. He welcomed businesses to contact him directly in case of any allegations, rather than making special requests.

On wage-earners bonds, he vowed to take cautious steps to check syphoning and bring the money back to generate more profits.