‘E-filing system will reduce the revenue gap’

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has been planning to introduce a system to collect revenue online (Through e-filing) for months, in order to help reduce the gap between revenue collection and its targets

In respect to that, NBR introduced the Electronic Tax Deducted at Source (e-TDS) system and through this, source tax is expected to increase up to 85%. 

Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of Bangladesh, Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, officially inaugurated the e-TDS system on Wednesday.

It was also informed at the launching event that, if the entire revenue system can be brought under the e-filing system, it will be possible to reduce the gap between the annual target set by the Finance Ministry and the revenue collected by the NBR by Tk10,000 crore.

According to the latest NBR figures, in just two months of the current financial year (July-August), the revenue shortfall was Tk5,210 crore. 

“If the e-TDS system is fully operational, the source tax will increase from the existing 60% to 85%,”  Chowdhury said. 

He suggested replicating this digital system in other sections of the NBR as well. 

He also mentioned that the tax refund system of the taxpayers should be made more transparent with no discrepancies. 

Senior Secretary of the Finance Division, Abdur Rouf Talukder said: “If there is automation everywhere (NBR), the efficiency will increase by several thousand crores. It may be possible to reduce the gap of TK 4,000-10,000 crores between the NBR collection and the finance department revenue target.”

Acknowledging the limitations of the refund system, NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem said that there is no good system of tax refunds in the tax department. 

“We are trying to upgrade to digitalization. The use of digital systems has to be brought under practice,” he said. 

According to the NBR, at present, tax is collected at source under 53 sections of the Income Tax Act. 

The e-TDS system will work in case of automatic source deduction, submission to government treasury and reporting through the Automated Challan or A-Challan system.

The NBR had a plan to introduce the e-TDS system across the country earlier in July which was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the current financial year (2021-22), NBR has a huge target of collecting Tk3,30,000 crore. 

Last year, the target was the same at the beginning, only to be revised to Tk3,01,000 crore later on.

However, the NBR ended up collecting around Tk2,60,000 crore at the end of that year.