Proposed incentive funds for NBR officials to be scrapped

The government is going to scrap two funds proposed in the upcoming budget for providing incentives to the VAT officials in the National Revenue Board (NBR), considering the view that other state agencies will also demand similar funds.

An official at the Finance Division said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already signed the proposal two days ago to cancel the return demand incentives fund and the work-skill and reward incentives fund.

"We have convinced the prime minister that the other state agencies that are responsible for revenue collections also demand such incentive funds from the fiscal allocation,” said the official.

The official further said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has also proposed a separate fund for providing incentives and reward for the officials of the VAT, income tax and customs administration of the NBR for good revenue collections.

Sources said the Finance Division has informed the matter to the NBR chairman.

According to sources at the Finance Division, the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida) has already reacted to the proposed incentive funds for the NBR officials.

According to the budget proposal, the funds would be created by deposits of 0.5 percent of the total VAT collection in the coming fiscal year. The estimated amount of this incentive fund will be Tk600 crore.

The NBR’s collection target from VAT in the coming fiscal year is Tk117,672 crore.

The finance minister in his budget statement proposed Tk23.88 crore for providing incentives to the NBR officials.