NBR looks for big house-owners in districts to get new taxpayers

National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem said the revenue board has taken various steps to increase the number of taxpayers in the country in a speedy manner through identifying the capable and potential taxpayers.

In this regard, he said, a process has already started to identify the owners of big houses and flats at the district level.

The NBR chairman said this while addressing a pre-budget meeting with the professionals at the NBR Bhaban in the capital's Agargaon area on Tuesday.

He informed that lists are being made on potential taxpayers representing various professions like doctors, lawyers, engineers, owners of shops in various markets and shopping malls as well as the affluent class of the society.

"In this process, it will be easier for us to identify those potential taxpayers who are still outside of the tax net," he added.

The pre-budget meeting was attended by the leaders of Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA), Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), PWC and ERG, Snehashish and Mahmud Company, and SME Foundation.

The NBR chairman said that it is not wise to take tough stance against those potential taxpayers who are still out of the tax net, rather it would be wise to change the scenario gradually.

He said that the revenue board has a plan to set up a tax museum to create awareness among the common people. Once established, the youths of the country would be able to visit the museum and thus would be able to make their guardians aware in paying tax.

About the revenue expenditure of the NBR, Muneem said although they are giving tax exemptions in various sectors every year through issuing SROs, there is a need to come out of such culture. "But, it's not easy to do that in one go, rather we need to come out of such culture in phases through framing long-term work plan," he added.

Taking part in the discussion, CPD representative Muntasir Kamal proposed for raising the ceiling of income tax for the individual taxpayers to Taka 3.50 lakh from the existing level of Taka 3 lakh considering the current inflationary situation.

PWC proposed for providing tax identification number to the global service providing organizations working in Bangladesh. It said that the government is losing revenue since many of the global service providing entities do not have local office in Bangladesh.