NBR finds tax evasion worth Tk 30,000cr, but collects only Tk 9,000cr in 10yrs

Al Amin :
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has discovered Tk 30,000 crore tax evasion by auditing 2,20,000 returns of the individual taxpayers and the companies in last 10 years (2010-11 to 2019-20).
But, only 27 per cent or Tk 9,000 crore of the evaded money could be collected, while the rest amount has remained untouched due to law suit during the time, NBR sources said.
They said the revenue board found that the taxpayers have evaded the huge amount of direct taxes by hiding real income and showing business losses in the last decade.
Usually, the accused tax payers don’t want to accept the decision of tax evasion by identifying irregularities through audit and they opt to the courts. As a result, it is not possible to collect the evaded tax until the case is not settled and the accumulated tax continues to increase, the officials said.
Some 2 to 2.5 per cent of the submitted returns have been brought under audit every year as per the policy of the revenue board and no file is being audited if the income is 20 per cent higher than the previous year. But, if there is any questionable income and no documentary evidence is shown, then the file is being audited.
Dr Syed Aminul Karim, former member (Tax) of the NBR, told The New Nation, “A return file is normally brought under audit, if there are gifts, loans, investments, and gross-profit related suspected transaction are shown in the file. In many cases the taxpayers do not
show the required documents in the return. Besides, the tax payment has been reduced compared to the previous year.”
“After detection of tax evasions through the audit, the taxpayers have the option of going to court if they feel that the officials have not done justice to them. Primarily, the taxmen file a departmental case in the tribunal. If the verdict is not in favor of the taxpayer, there is an opportunity to file a case in the conventional court,” the official said.
“In most cases, the taxpayers file a writ in the High Court and tax related cases take years to resolve due to high caseload in there and thus way, it is impossible to collect the evaded money,” he added.
According to a report prepared by Audit, Intelligence and Investigation division of the NBR, some 2,20,000 returns were selected for audit in last 10 years from the fiscal year 2010-11 to the fiscal year 2019-20.
Of this, some 2,17,057 returns were audited and found tax evasion worth Tk 30,000 crore. But the revenue board was able to collect only Tk 9,000 till October of the outgoing year.
NBR found tax evasion worth Tk 2,135 crore by auditing 10,094 returns in 2010-11 fiscal year, Tk 2,716 crore by auditing 16,840 files in 2011-12, Tk 4,389 crore by auditing 20,584 files in 2012-13, around Tk 5,440 crore by auditing 32,344 files in 2013-14, Tk 961 crore by auditing 20,643 files in 2014-15, Tk 2,980 crore by auditing 22,000 files in 2015-16, Tk 2,000 crore by auditing 2,380 files in 2016-17, Tk 3,031 crore against 25,294 files in 2017-18, Tk 2,289 crore against 26,238 files in 2018-19 and Tk 3,309 crore against 21,908 files in 2019-20, the report showed.