RTNN News Desk: As part of government efforts to increase the
tax-GDP ratio, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has taken a
massive plan to bring some 4.5 million business houses that are in
good position but do not pay taxes under the tax net.

According to the NBR, these business houses have very good financial
strength but never pay income tax and even they do not have any tax
identification number.

A senior NBR official said, Finance Minister AMA Muhith recently asked the Board to improve the
tax-GDP ratio and told them to chalk out a massive plan in this
regard.

The NBR, meanwhile, formed a three-member committee with its member M
Farid Uddin as its convenor. Its other members are Dr Mahbubur Rahman
and Firoze Shah Alam.

The committee has gathered information about trade license holders
from Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), all city corporations and
metropolitan areas.

It found some 7.5 million business houses of the country do not have
any income tax file while 4.5 million of them have good economic
standing.

"We want to bring these business houses under the tax net in the
2015-16 fiscal," the NBR official said.

He also said the Finance Minister would make a specific announcement
in this regard in his budget speech on Thursday.

In 2013, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) collected
information of some 80,75,000 business houses and their owners, and
saw that some 4.5 million business houses are on strong economic
footing while 2.9 million have got moderate financial condition.

The BBS also gathered information about the types of the business
houses, their products, number of employees, type of capital and
income tax-related information of their owners.

The NBR, he said, has taken the decision as it is going to get a
gigantic target of revenue collection of Tk 176,370 crore for the
2015-16 fiscal. Of the total amount, the lion share -- Tk 65,932
crore -- will come from the Income Tax wing.

The target for collection from VAT has been fixed at Tk 63,902 crore
while Tk 46,536 crore will come from customs duty.