Danish Foods faces Tk3.46cr VAT evasion case

The National Board of Revenue has sued Danish Foods Limited, a concern of Partex Group, for evading Tk3.46 crore in value-added tax (VAT).

The case was filed on Tuesday following an investigation by the VAT Audit, Intelligence & Investigation Directorate, according to a press statement.

Danish Foods authorities have admitted to the crime and have already voluntarily paid nearly Tk2.46 crore of the unpaid VAT.

A VAT intelligence directorate team, headed by Assistant Director Alamgir Hossain, unearthed the irregularities after reviewing Danish Foods' accounts from July 2017 to July 2018.

In the context of VAT at source, the company paid Tk12.06 lakh against various services during the period under investigation, when over Tk31.91 lakh of VAT at source was due, investigators said in their report.  Including a 2% interest penalty on the due VAT at source, the company still owes Tk21.73 lakh.

Danish Foods also evaded another Tk64.21 lakh in additional rebates on increased prices of advertisements and products.

Moreover, the company owed another Tk3,70,81,138 in VAT following a deduction of its claimed rebate on increased material prices due to its non-declaration of revised prices after a 7.5% hike.

However, the NBR said, Danish Food needed to pay just over Tk2.6 crore in VAT as it adjusted over Tk1.11 crore.

In total, the investigation revealed VAT evasion of Tk3,45,90,408 by Danish Foods in one year's time.

The investigation report and the case documents have been sent to the concerned VAT Commissionerate by the VAT intelligence directorate.

Detectives also asked the commissionerate to monitor the company.