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Tax and Revenue Management

Bangladesh eyes computerised tax processes

By Johanna Morden | 17 June 2011

The tax authority of Bangladesh has taken steps to enhance the country’s tax system by launching a five-year Modernisation Plan that involves the automation of tax processes.

The initiative falls under the Integrated Revenue Management Programme of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) that will begin by September this year and end in 2016.

Firoz Ah Shalam, Commissioner of Customs, Excise & VAT of Bangladesh, said initiatives had been introduced to modernise the VAT system and tax management to increase the 8.5 per cent tax-GDP ratio.

The programme, upon full implementation is expected to improve the tax-GDP ratio to 13 per cent, reduce the tax pendency in courts by 80 per cent and provide efficient services to taxpayers by 2016 via web-enabled tax administration.

The web-based will include such components of web-enabled tax administration as e-registration, e-filing of tax returns and e-payment/e-refunds.

This Integrated Revenue Management Programme has the objective of streamlining business processes across various taxes for greater efficiency and better tax compliance.

The central part of the programme is the distribution of Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and Business Identification Number (BIN) for income tax payers and VAT payers, respectively.

Other parts include the creation of an NBR Data Centre, Centralised Processing for Income Tax and VAT Returns, Tax Information Network and the establishment of an Integrated Tax Administration Software would assist tax officials in performing their functions in a computerised environment.

The NBR will also launch an accompanying Infrastructure Development Programme that will look into the requirement of the physical infrastructure such as building and furniture as well as the IT hardware requirements to support the automation of the tax processes.

Other initiatives under the Modernisation Plan include tax policy reforms, redefining the status and regulatory power of the NBR, restructuring NBR according to function and size, and the enhancement of communication and education with taxpayers, enforcement and human resources.

A comprehensive plan detailing the budget and implementation method of the Modernisation Plan will be submitted to the government by the NBR by September 2011.

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