40pc registered companies operating without TINs

Economic Reporter :
Close to 108,360 registered companies, or 40% of companies doing business in Bangladesh have been operating without any taxpayer identification number (TIN), according to the National Board of Revenue (NBR.)
The corporate compliance task force cell (CCTF) of the NBR, formed in August 2020 to bring the registered companies under the tax net, said that a total of 167,100 companies were holding TINs in the country.
Since the formation of the CCTF, the number of corporate TIN holders has increased.
The number was 78,000 before its formation, the NBR said.
According to the Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC), till September 2022 a total of 275,460 public and private limited companies got registration from the office.
Among the total corporate TIN holders, nearly 60% TIN holders were yet to submit any returns to the NBR, nor did they not pay any taxes, an official of the cell said.
The official said although many companies were registered with the RJSC, they did not get the tax identification number from the NBR.
Normally the cell collected information from the RJSC and brought the companies without TIN under the tax net, they said.
It is mandatory for all companies registered under the Companies Act to take TIN and submit returns at the end of the year but often a number of businesses registered their company with a fake TIN, they added.
In addition, multiple companies have registered with the RJSC using the same address, they further said.
As per income tax law, the submission of tax returns along with audited financial reports through the data verification system (DVS) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) is mandatory for the companies.
According to the ICAB, some 45,000 audit reports were verified through the DVS.
Currently, corporate taxpayers are required to submit 26 types of documents, mostly in manual forms, in a year to the NBR.