It is not surprising to know that around 40 percent of the registered companies are doing business in Bangladesh without any taxpayer identification number (TIN). The National Board of Revenue (NBR), since August 2020, is working to bring the registered companies under the tax net. 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 percent of TIN holders are yet to submit any returns to the NBR, nor did they pay any taxes. Normally the cell collected information from the RJSC and brought the companies without TIN under the tax net. 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.
In addition, multiple companies have registered with the RJSC using the same address. 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.
Businesses for long have been demanding for easing the taxation system by digitization, transparency, one-stop solution, and many more. However, the government’s commitment to ease doing business has not been achieved nor is the taxation system generalized. Instead, speed money, corruption, under-table dealing, and structural and non-structural tax, VAT and extortion have pushed many small and medium businesses to suspend their business, manufacturing, service delivery, and other forms of business.
