VAT collection goes up after EFD installation

Business Desk  :
Collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) has increased while transparency in VAT collection has been brought after installation of Electronic Fiscal Device (EFD) machines.
Currently, the average VAT collection per EFD machine is Taka 50,000 per month. Earlier, the amount of VAT collection per month was only Taka 4,000 to Taka 5,000 for per EFD machine in the respective shops, reports BSS.
Member of VAT implementation and IT department of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Dr Moinul Khan said this at a ‘Meet The Press” held at the NBR Bhaban in the capital’s Agargaon marking the VAT Day and VAT week 2023.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Moinul said, “Due to the establishment of EFD machines, VAT collection has increased in the concerned business establishments while transparency has also increased.”
He claimed that the EFD machines have already been proven to be a more effective method than before in terms of VAT collection.
Dr Moinul informed that a total of 18,000 EFD machines have been installed so far while some 60,000 EFD machines will be installed in the current tax year. “Machines are being installed in three regions in Dhaka and Chattogram. If it is successful, EFDs will be installed at the district and upazila level,” he said. Moinul said that it is not known whether the invoices that are written on paper have been deposited in the government treasury. “But, we’re getting the invoice related information if the purchase is made through EFD machines. So, EFD is a very effective method for collecting VAT,” he said.
In response to a question, Moinul Khan said, “Recently, imports have declined by 30 percent in some cases. However, due to the adoption of some strategies, VAT collection did not decline, rather has increased by 17 percent even though imports dropped.” He also noted that VAT collection has increased due to the prevention of VAT evasion, expansion of net and especially strengthening of monitoring. Member of NBR (VAT Audit) Md. Sahidul Islam said, “We’ve taken the initiative to dispose of the related cases quickly in order to increase the VAT collection and already judgments of several cases has come in favor of the government, which is playing a positive role in VAT collection.”