Sohel Parvez

The VAT Intelligence yesterday withdrew its directive that had asked banks to provide information on discrepancies in turnover figures shown by potential borrowers in returns and annual financial statements.

Much has been said about the modernisation and automation of the value-added tax system in Bangladesh over the last decade. Yet, the automation of the VAT administration is halfway, although the project’s tenure is supposed to come to its end this year.

The revenue authority has sought to tax companies’ promotional expenditure exceeding 0.50 per cent of their turnover, an unprecedented move that has left firms flustered.

The revenue authority has withdrawn duty-free import privilege for furnace oil in order to discourage establishment of power plants using the fuel and plug annual revenue losses of Tk 2,000 crore.

Revenue collection fell massively for the second consecutive month in May as incomes and demand for goods and services crashed because of the lengthy shutdown put in place to battle the Covid-19 pandemic.

Businesses are worried that some proposed changes in the value-added tax (VAT) law will increase their costs and discourage them from seeking justice against inflated revenue claims by field officials of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

In the wake of a sluggish progress in the government’s Boro procurement programme, the food ministry has lifted the ceiling for paddy and wheat purchase from an individual farmer to six tonnes from the previous three tonnes.

The government’s decision to slash the advance tax (AT) when importing raw materials from 5 per cent to 4 per cent for the upcoming fiscal year will encourage local manufacturers by reducing their financial burden.

Earlier this week, an extraordinary notice from the Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB), a forum of bank sponsors, instructed lenders to cut the salaries of staff who draw a gross salary of more than Tk 40,000 monthly by 15%.

Netflix and Amazon Prime have become household names in Bangladesh as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has forced people to take shelter at home with little to do other than watch movies.

Over the past year, manufacturers have had to pay advance tax (AT) when importing raw materials that resulted in increased operating costs while also blocking working capital for various companies like mobile phone and refrigerator makers.

Onion prices remained steady despite the government’s decision to impose a 5 per cent tariff on imports of the key cooking ingredient to encourage local producers and reduce import dependency.

The revenue authority may get an additional Tk 11,000 crore next fiscal year because of the new value-added tax (VAT) and supplementary duty (SD) measures, according to an estimate by the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

The National of Board of Revenue (NBR) has made it mandatory for submission of bill of entry, a written account of imported and exported goods, to customs within five working days of the arrival of the goods at the port.

Taxpayers in the low-income bracket have something to feel good about.

People with big bank balances are going to see up to a 60 percent hike in excise duty rates the next fiscal year, as the government aims to collect higher taxes from relatively well-offs to attain the target of increased revenue collection for next fiscal year, according to the budget proposed by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.

The national and global lockdown measures aimed at battling the Covid-19 pandemic have taken their toll on Bangladesh’s industrial production, obliterating tens of thousands of jobs, incomes and demand.

The government is expected to tighten tax rules to curb the scope for money laundering through under and over invoicing of exported and imported goods and through fictitious or inflated investment, said a finance ministry official.

Subsidies on fertiliser products are set to be slashed by about Tk 7,000 crore in the outgoing fiscal year as falling prices for the key farming ingredient and cheaper transport costs will ultimately enable the government to increase spending on other purposes, said numerous private importers and officials of the agriculture ministry.

Around a month has passed since programmes to procure Boro paddy and rice began, but the government has been able to buy a very insignificant quantity against its target this year, raising concerns that efforts to provide food to the poor amid the Covid-19 crisis might suffer a setback without adequate stock.