Published: March 5, 2025, 04:04 PM
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is planning to make it compulsory for all the individual taxpayers to submit their income tax returns online from next fiscal.
The revenue collecting authority has taken the move as it got good results from the online income tax return submission this year.
Initially the online tax return has been open for all taxpayers as per their wish. But later the NBR made it mandatory for the government employees under the jurisdiction of income tax circles located in Dhaka North, Dhaka South, Gazipur and Narayanganj City Corporation, as well as sections of the private sector.
NBR has taken the move as it got good results from the online income tax return submission this year.
Online filing of income tax returns has been made mandatory for working officers/employees of all scheduled banks, all mobile telecom service providers and some multinational companies namely Unilever Bangladesh Limited, British American Tobacco Bangladesh Company Limited, Marico Bangladesh Limited, Berger Paints Bangladesh Limited, Bata Shoe Company (Bangladesh) Limited, Nestlé Bangladesh Plc.
The NBR has taken a move to simplify submission of income tax return and payment procedure online for the tax year 2024-2025.
From this system, taxpayers can pay taxes through internet banking, card payment (debit/credit card) and mobile banking and get the facility of downloading and printing copies of filed returns, receipts, income tax certificates, TIN certificates. Besides, anyone can download and print the e-Return filed for the previous year.
Getting positive feedback from the taxpayers, the NBR has decided to hold a seminar with the taxpayers to find out the problems they have faced while submitting their tax returns online.
NBR Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan informed this to journalists at a press briefing at NBR headquarters in Dhaka`s Agargaon yesterday followed by a meeting with the finance adviser.
The tax administration has taken the initiative to facilitate digital submissions of income tax, wealth statement and other tax by individual taxpayers as well as to reduce the need for taxpayers to meet tax officials in person.
Khan said the NBR had initially launched an online return submission portal in 2016 but due to some errors, the NBR relaunched it in 2021.
"The latest journey (2021) was not smooth as there was also fear and doubt. Now, we are fully ready to accommodate nearly one crore taxpayers from this fiscal year," said the NBR chairman.
Last fiscal year, around 5 lakh taxpayers submitted their returns online and nearly 38 lakh submitted manually, according to the NBR.
Currently, Bangladesh has 1.4 crore people with taxpayer identification numbers (TINs).
"Bangladesh is far away from the global standard. We have just started (making progress) now in full swing. I hope the online return number will increase to 15 lakh by this fiscal year," said Khan.
Bangladesh continues to grapple with one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in the South Asian region—just 7.3%. In contrast, neighboring countries like India (12%), Nepal (17.5%), and Bhutan (12.3%) have significantly higher ratios. Moreover, only 5.2% of Bangladesh`s population are registered as taxpayers, a stark contrast to India`s 23.08%.
Currently, 67% of the government`s revenue comes from indirect taxes. The NBR has acknowledged the need to shift this dependency toward direct taxes. The NBR is working to broaden the tax net in a way that is more convenient for taxpayers, encouraging compliance while reducing the burden of indirect taxation.
The implementation of the Income Tax Act 2023 has introduced new audit guidelines that have raised concerns about potential increased bureaucracy and costs for taxpayers. Under the guidelines, taxpayers may face multiple stages of interrogation, which some fear could open the door to underhand dealings.
To combat these concerns, the NBR has been developing specialized software, known as the "Risk Management Engine," which is designed to bring greater transparency to the tax audit process. The software will link with other government agencies to gather data and select tax files for audit based on risk factors, helping to detect tax evasion more effectively.
