VAT worth Tk50 lakh must be paid online from 1 January

VAT worth Tk50 lakh or more has to be paid online instead of existing manual payment, which will be effective from 1 January, says an order issued by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) on Thursday.

The modern e-payment or a-challan is expected to enable traders to pay their revenue quickly and seamlessly and ensure government revenue collection.

According to sources at the VAT Wing of NBR, at present, around 200 business entities pay at least Tk50 lakh as VAT per month. NBR aims at bringing more businesses, whose monthly VAT is below Tk50 lakh, into online VAT payment.

A senior official in the VAT department told The Business Standard as it is difficult to bring everyone online initially, large VAT payers have been brought. By 2022, more VAT payers will have to pay VAT through a-challan.

Kazi Mostafizur Rahman, director of NBR's VAT online project, told The Business Standard the number of VAT registrations until Thursday was 3.11 lakh and return submissions in December was 2.09 lakh.

VAT registrants have to submit the previous month's account by the 15th of the month, which is known as the VAT return. Penalties are levied if VAT registrants do not submit monthly returns.