Tax return verification goes online

The tax department has recently launched an online service that enables public and private offices to check whether a taxpayer has submitted the returns against their taxpayer identification numbers after logging into the revenue board website. 

After introducing the system on 21 August, the department said it has received a huge response from the offices concerned so far.   

"More than 3,000 returns are now being verified per day. We hope it will increase gradually," National Board of Revenue Member Mohammad Jahid Hasan told The Business Standard. 

He said the online service aims at hassle-free verification.   

However, a number of public offices are in the dark about the e-verification of return as the revenue board did not conduct any popularity campaign. Besides, some offices say they are unable to access the system owing to server complexity. 

Manager of a private bank in Dhaka said he was unaware of the e-verification as his branch is still asking for the hard copy of the return submission document.  

Another senior officer of a field level National Savings Directorate office said they are unaware of the online service too. 

In the last national budget, the government introduced several reforms in the finance bill, including making the filing of tax returns mandatory for availing minimum 38 services such as getting a utility connection or a credit card.

Previously the services could be availed by just providing the taxpayer identification number, or TIN. 

According to revenue board officials, there are around 3 lakh government and private offices who need return submission verification. 

There are around 80 lakh TIN holders in the country, of which less than 30 lakh submitted tax returns. To bring all the TIN holders to the tax net, the revenue board mandated return submissions from the current FY23.