NBR yet to realise Tk 218b VAT, SD arrears from Petrobangla

No visible progress has yet been made despite the government's efforts to realise Tk 218 billion in arrears from Petrobangla.

Over last several months, National Board of Revenue (NBR) was trying to realise Value Added Tax (VAT) and Supplementary Duty (SD), which remained unpaid for long, from state-run Petrobangla.

Recently, NBR has sought the finance division's intervention to realise outstanding VAT worth of over Tk 88 billion.

In March 2017, a meeting was held to review outstanding dues of Petrobangla. Chaired by the finance minister, the meeting was attended by the senior secretary of finance division, NBR chairman and other high officials of finance division and revenue board.

The meeting decided to recover a hefty amount of revenue stuck up with Petrobangla through book adjustment gradually.

The finance division will take steps to recover NBR dues as Value Added Tax through required allocation. Besides, it will take measures to give allocation against the price gap of Petrobangla.

The government is trying to recover the hefty amount of tax revenue stuck up with the corporation and different moves have been taken to deal with the matter following a row over the payment of such a large amount of revenue, a finance division high official said.

Last year Petrobangla sought subsidy from Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) while EMRD asked for an allocation as subsidy in favour of Petrobangla.

The government provided Petrobangla with Tk 10 billion for payment of outstanding VAT and SD. Later the amount was paid to the revenue board in October last and deposited to Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU), VAT.

State-run Petrobangla owes over Tk 218 billion to NBR as VAT and SD without interest collected from clients concerned from the fiscal year 2009-10 to September 2017, but they didn't deposit the money with the public exchequer, according to NBR.

Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd, Jalalabad Gas Transmission and Distribution System Ltd, Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Company Ltd and Karnaphuli Gas Transmission and Distribution Company supply gas to their respective customers from international oil company (IOC) at government-fixed prices.

Talking to the FE, a NBR official said, "LTU thinks that a big chunk of VAT/SD remained pending with the four gas-distribution companies. So, NBR has sought help from the finance ministry to realise unpaid VAT."

Petrobangla markets gas to different customers through its marketing outfits. The companies collect VAT and SD along with the prices of gas from the clients, according to Petrobangla.

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