Mentioning income tax would be the major source of government’s revenue earning in the near future, Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Monday hoped that the taxpayers in the country would total one percent of the population by FY15. “It was my expectation the country’s taxpayers would reach one percent of the population, but we’re yet to achieve that. I hope, the number of taxpayers would reach one percent of the population by FY15,” he said.
“Our next target would be how to take the number of taxpayers to 3-5 percent of the country’s population,” Muhith told a function, marking the inauguration of E-TIN Registration system, at a city hotel in the afternoon.
Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu and renowned tax lawyer Shah Jikrul Ahmed, MP, were the special guests, and FBCCI president Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed the guest of honour at the function, chaired by National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman M Ghulam Hossain.
NBR member Rahela Chowdhury made the introductory remarks while an audio-visual presentation was also made on the E-TIN registration system
Speaking as the chief guest, Muhith said currently, income tax is the second highest source of the government revenue. But, hopefully, it will take the first spot by FY15.
Mentioning that the trend of paying income tax is much lower in Bangladesh as compared to the number of TIN holders, he said that out of around 33 lakh TIN holders, the actual number came down to 17 lakh after scrutiny.
The Finance Minister said that when the present government took office four and half years back, the number of taxpayers was seven lakh, but now it has increased to 11 lakh,
He observed that the culture of fear in paying taxes has been declining day by day and the E-TIN registration system would play a very important role in this respect.
The government is taking steps from the current fiscal year (FY14) to widen the scope for paying taxes online, Muhith said and wished success of the newly introduced E-TIN system.
Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu emphasized improving relations between the taxpayers and the tax collectors. He said both the revenue collectors and the taxpayers would have to come out of the ‘police-thief’ psyche and introduction of E-TIN would play a significant role to this end.
“This will reduce the hassles and sufferings of the potential taxpayers with the availability of an accurate database of the taxpayers. The tax net would also be widened and also the internal resources mobilization,” he added.
Inu also observed that there are some 30,000 people in the country who could each give minimum one crore taka as tax annually.
Shah Jikrul Ahmed, MP, said that the country’s revenue earning has doubled during the tenure of the present government due to the massive expansion of the NBR activities.
He suggested upgrading the post of NBR members to grade 1 of the public service.
FBCCI president Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed said introduction of the E-TIN system would reduce the sufferings of those interested to collect TINs and this will help increase the revenue earning from income tax.
He said that around 12 lakh people currently pay income tax out of the total number of TIN holders. “The current GDP-tax ratio is 12.84 percent and the new system (E-TIN) would help increase the number of taxpayers and the ratio.’’
Urging all to avail E-TIN, the FBCCI chief said that the business community would extend all-out cooperation to the NBR so that it could exceed its revenue earning target this year.
Later, the chief guest (AMA Muhith) and the special guests (Hasanul Haque Inu and Shah Jikrul Ahmed) were provided with the E-TIN certificates.
With the introduction of E-TIN from 01 July 2013, the new taxpayers from now on would have to collect 12-digit TIN while the old TIN holders would have to re-register for collecting their TINs on new system by 31 December 2013.
From 01 January 2014, the 10-digit TIN would be of no effect. All the old taxpayers have been requested to submit their income tax returns for the tax assessment year 2013-14 after collecting the new 12-digit TIN.
For collecting the E-TINs, individual taxpayers will require their NID cards, passports or old TINs for making re-registration; the national ID cards or passports of the guardian in case of the minors; registration number of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies (RJSC) and old TINs for re-registration of the companies and listed firms; and passport number, mobile number, e-mail, old TIN for re-registration of the foreign taxpayers. – UNB
