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The revenue board would make submission of income tax (IT) return acknowledgement receipt mandatory for obtaining different services from the public entities, officials said.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem recently sought cooperation of different ministries and departments to implement it which is expected to help increase revenue collection.
He requested the government agencies to change relevant policies on purchase, enlistment, registration or certificate issuance to help make mandatory the tax return acknowledgement slip of the previous fiscal year along with the e-TIN.
Following the introduction of the provision, people willing to register and renew motor or river vehicles, obtain trade licence, enlist as a contractor or supplier of goods, obtain import or export registration certificate or participate a tender will have to produce the proof against submission of the income tax return.
The NBR chief sent Demy Official (DO) letters to the secretaries of the different ministries, seeking their cooperation to ensure tax compliance.
Currently, submission of Electronic Taxpayers Identification Number (E-TIN) is mandatory for obtaining services like land, vehicle, house property registration and renewal, opening bank accounts, trade licence, obtaining import registration certificate or export registration certificate etc.
In a meeting on March 15, some 10 ministries and divisions, including Power Division, Energy and Mineral Resources Division, Finance Division, Local Government Division, Road Transport and Highways Division, Bridges Division and Industries Ministry discussed the issue about the inclusion of the mandatory provision of furnishing income tax return acknowledgement receipt for certain services.
It has been found that a number of individuals and businesses having TINs do not file income tax returns but can avail the services by showing the TIN certificates.
In the budget for FY21, the government has made submission of tax returns mandatory for all TIN holders, excluding few exceptions.
Some 2.4 million TIN holders submitted their tax returns out of the total 5.0 million until June 30, 2020.
In the letter, the NBR chairman wrote that a private car owner can renew the registration of his or her motor vehicle just by showing the TIN certificate and without filing the income tax returns.
Currently, there is no provision of cancelling the e-TIN or barring the generation of e-TIN certificate in the Income Tax Ordinance-1984 for not submitting the income tax returns, he said.
"Absence of such provision creates scope for avoiding submission of income tax returns, tax evasion and concealment of income for unscrupulous TIN holders," he said.
He expressed the hope that the move will help increase revenue collection from domestic sources.
Seeking cooperation of the other ministries, he said the target for income tax collection has been set at Tk 970 billion for the current FY.
Officials said that they usually issue the tax acknowledgement receipts to the taxpayers instantly after receiving the returns.
The NBR in September last year had instructed the field offices to issue the acknowledgement slip just after submission of the returns.
Earlier, the taxpayers had to face hassles and unusual delay in getting the slip from the field offices.