Nahid Enterprise sued for evading Tk275cr VAT

The VAT Audit, Intelligence and Investigation Directorate of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has recently filed a case against Nahid Enterprise, a company in the capital's Lalbagh area, after finding evidence of them evading VAT worth Tk275 crore. 

After being tipped off about the company's history of evading VAT, the VAT intelligence directorate began investigating Nahid Enterprise and summoned the company's VAT related documents from July 2015 – June 2020 but the company did not send the documents even after multiple follow-ups. 

After that on 17 June, the directorate conducted a raid at the company led by the deputy director of the directorate Tanveer Ahmed and seized the company's VAT-related documents. 

According to the investigation report, the company provided services without VAT invoice and recording proper revenue and stored actual sales information elsewhere in confidential documents, causing significant financial loss to the government. 

In five years from July 2016 to May 2021, the company has shown a sales figure of more than Tk291 crore but as per the seized documents, the company's actual sales figure was Tk1540 crore, of which Tk1,339 crore was VAT-applicable sum. 

The investigation revealed that the company hid the actual sales figure of Tk1,047 crore. And, the total amount of VAT evaded by the company is Tk275 crore. The sum is calculated by adding Tk118 crore in interests with the unpaid amount of Tk157 crore. 

The company has paid a total of Tk43 crore from July 2016 to May 2021, evading some Tk157 crore, indicating that the company has been involved in various illegal transactions over the years. 

The investigation has further revealed that the company has transacted some Tk1540 crore through the Moulvibazar branch of Prime Bank and Chawkbazar branch of Uttara Bank. 

The vat intelligence directorate also requested the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Department of the NBR to take actions against the company and urged the Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) of the NBR to further investigate the matters regarding vat evasion. 

The case has also been forwarded to the concerned Vat Commissionerate for further legal action to recover the evaded vat revealed in the investigation. 

At the same time, the concerned vat commissioner has been requested to further monitor the activities of the organisation. Customs Bond Commissionerate, Dhaka has also been requested to take proper actions to prevent the misuse of the bond facility in the future.