NBR to make online tax return mandatory for salaried persons

Dhaka (December 19, 2020): The tax administrator is exploring the possibility of filing tax returns mandatory online for all salaried taxpayers from next year, said a senior tax official on Saturday.

It is also considering bringing down the rates of withholding tax or tax at source in the new fiscal year, said Md Alamgir Hossain, the income tax policy member at National Board of Revenue (NBR) at an event organised by the Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) in Dhaka.

“The final demonstration of filing tax returns online is likely to be held in February,” he said.

The NBR suspended the return payment facility online, which was launched a few months back, due to technical faults.

The number of tax return payers is now around 2.2 million which is around 1 percent of the total number of the country’s population. “We’re yet to popularize the filing tax return despite several efforts,” said the NBR member.

To simplify the tax return system, the NBR has started drafting a new direct tax law and will seek opinions from stakeholders by June next before finalising it.

Once the law is launched, the taxpayers’ dependency on income tax practitioners or lawyers will be reduced to a great extent, according to Hossain.

At present, the direct tax GDP ratio remained stagnant in respect of the country’s per capita income and household expenditures, he said, hoping that the ratio might increase once the NBR simplifies the tax return submission process.

The NBR has also moved to digitize the transformation of taxpayers’ services and expansion of out-reaching activities.

On the allegations of harassment, the NBR said a negligible part of total income tax files is selected for auditing. “The taxpayers need to feel the necessity of tax payment for the development of the country.”