Businesses are facing difficulties to get registered with the VAT net after technical glitch in the server even as the July 31 deadline looms.
A number of businessmen have complained to the VAT offices that they cannot get access to the server to obtain Business Identification Number (BIN) or re-enter necessary information as asked by the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
The tax authority asked all existing electronic BIN (e-BIN) holders to furnish additional information by July 31 to keep their VAT registration active.
Currently, there are 166,000 e-BIN holders who have obtained the new VAT registration numbers, known as e-BIN.
Talking to the FE, Solaiman Parsee, VAT and tax committee director of the Bangladesh Pipe and Tubewell Merchant Association said he submitted all documents three days ago to the VAT online server to update his information but he did not get any response yet.
He said the VAT wing issued an order on July 17 making registration mandatory for 175 types of businesses irrespective of their annual business turnover.
"The given time-frame of only two weeks is not enough for the huge number of businesses to obtain VAT registration and update information inserting additional information into the server," he said.
Another businessmen under Demra VAT circle said he tried several times to obtain VAT registration on Sunday but could not access the server.
"How will the large number of businesses comply with the NBR's directive within the deadline with this type of technical glitch in the server?" he said asking for time extension.
Officials said the NBR might consider extension of the deadline for VAT registration after plea from the businesses.
The NBR introduced the e-BIN by replacing the previous VAT registration number in order to automate VAT registration.
Earlier, there were 840,000 BIN holders, but fewer than 32,000 businesses were submitting VAT returns.
The VAT wing introduced the e-BIN on March 2017, aiming to clean up the fake BIN holders and also expedite the process of issuance of VAT registration number.
However, officials found the existence of fake BIN holders in the new system due to issuance of instant BIN without verification.
To address the problem, the revenue board asked all VAT registered businesses earlier in the month to sign-up again in the site of e-BIN and fill up VAT 2.1 form as per the amended VAT act and rules to keep their BIN active.
BIN is mandatory for all the major business activities, including export and import.
