The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has waived traders from payment of penalty and interest for not filing value-added tax returns for the months of March and April with a condition of filing VAT returns of the months by June 9.
VAT wing of the revenue board today (Tuesday, 26 May) issued a special order extending the deadline for submission of VAT returns for the months with exemption from payment of penalty and interest on applicable VAT for March and April.
The revenue board offered the benefit as a large number of businesses could not file their VAT returns for the months due to general holidays imposed to check the spread of coronavirus pandemic, according to the order signed by NBR member (VAT policy) Masud Sadiq.
The government extended the holidays announced on March 29 until May 30.
The order said that businesses would have to file VAT returns by June 9 deadline to avail the exemption.
According to the VAT law, traders will be liable to pay a penalty of Tk 10,000 and 2 per cent interest on payable VAT in case of failure monthly VAT returns.
Traders have to file their VAT returns for a month and deposit VAT they collected from consumers by 15th day of next month.
Submission of VAT returns halved and stood at 30,781 in March and at 42,600 in April from on an average around 70,000 per month due to general holidays and lockdown situation.
At that time, the NBR did not extend the deadline despite repeated demand of trade bodies and associations saying that there was no such provision in the VAT and Supplementary Duty Act-2012.
Later on May 20, the president, Abdul Hamid, promulgated an ordinance empowering the NBR to extend time for submission of VAT returns with waiving penalty and interest on applicable taxes in situation like natural disaster, pandemic, any act of God and war.
NBR extended the deadline and offered the waiver based on the ordinance.
