Mere 27% taxpayers file tax-return in time

Only 27% taxpayers have filed their yearly tax-return within the deadline of 30 November, which was extended by another one month by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) for the tax-filing of 2021-22 fiscal.

Taxpayers will be able to file their taxes until 31 December.

According to NBR data, it received Tk2456 crore income tax from tax-returns of a total of 18.55 lakh individuals, which is over 6% year-on-year rise from last year's 17.48 lakh.

Failing to meet the initial deadline of 30 November, some 1.55 lakh of the total 68 lakh e-tin holders sought extension to file their taxes.

 "We cannot yet assume final figures as the deadline has been extended," a NBR official of the income tax department said before hoping to see over 30 lakh people filing their returns by 31 December.

 "Filing of tax-returns has increased over the last few years after tax-filing was made compulsory for all e-tin holders. Besides, people are becoming more conscious about it and the benefit is visible," he observed.

According to NBR statistics, of the 31 tax zones in the country, the most amount of return was filed in the Khulna zone, where 1,31,487 taxpayers paid their income taxes amounting to Tk64.27 crores.

On the other hand, the lowest tax filing was recorded in Dhaka's Large Taxpayer Unit. Only 233 returns were filed there adding Tk105.05 crores in the government's revenue.

NBR's new digital platform e-return has received a good response with 50,000 taxpayers filing their returns online through the trial run which was launched in October. Some 90,000 taxpayers have registered on the e-return platform.

Earlier, in the tax year 2020-21, a total of 25. 40 lakh taxpayers submitted their income tax returns. However, the revenue board did not take any action against those who did not submit returns.

According to the Income Tax Ordinance, it is mandatory for all TIN holders to file returns with one or two exceptions. The deadline for filing income tax returns is fixed on 30 November of each year.

Earlier, the NBR had extended the deadline for filing returns by one month for the first time in the 2020-21 tax year due to the coronavirus pandemic. There is no provision in the Income Tax Act to increase the time for filing returns after the specified time. However, the NBR was given authority through a special presidential ordinance considering the pandemic.

People who do not file returns are called 'non-filers' in the income tax lingo. The NBR has the jurisdiction to find and audit people who have TIN and taxable income but do not submit returns.

According to the Income Tax Ordinance, it is mandatory for all TIN holders to submit their returns and there is a provision of financial penalty for non-submission. Failure to submit the return despite having taxable income is punishable by fine and interest as per the Income Tax Ordinance.