Furthermore, the mandatory provision for payment of Tk 1000 as advance tax is likely to be withdrawn from fiscal 2011-12 in order to reduce the hassle of the taxpayers at the time of obtaining the TIN.
The announcement to this effect is expected to be made through the budget for the upcoming fiscal that would be placed before parliament on June 9 next.
Harassment in issuance of TIN is considered one of the major hurdles to raising country's poor tax-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio.
Sources said the National Board of Revenue (NBR) will designate a firm that would open up 100 facilitation centres across the country to issue TIN through online and to receive tax returns. People will get the TIN by submitting application through the facilitation centres.
The NBR recently floated international tender to select a firm to handover the responsibility of TIN-issuing authority.
The country's all 64 districts and also some potential growth centres will have the facilitation centres for taxpayers.
Officials said the government is introducing the system to avoid face-to-face contact with the taxmen. Presently, the TIN is mandatory for obtaining 17 services from both public and private sectors.
"There will be a minimum charge for obtaining TIN through online. The NBR will scrap the rule of taking Tk 1000 advance tax at the time of issuance of TIN," said Kanon Kumar Roy, focal point of e-governance committee of the NBR.
The procedures for issuance of TIN will be simplified as it will be provided through online from September next, he said.
"We have invited international tender for selecting a company that will prepare a system to introduce the system," Mr. Roy said.
The existing TIN issuance procedure is, according to the NBR, the main reason that discourages taxpayers at the entry-point, he added.
"Online TIN facilities will be finalised by a private company. The board will select a firm by June," he said.
"There will be facilitation centres across the country. People will get TIN and other relevant services on payment of taxes through the centres," he said.
International Finance Corporation (IFC) will support the NBR to start the online TIN system, he added.
Top taxmen and taxpayers have identified procedural complexities and corrupt practices in tax offices as the major reason for the existing large gap between actual taxpayers and TIN-holders.
Currently, there are 3.0 million TIN holders in the country. Only one-third of them submit tax returns every year while the rest of them remain largely unidentified.
Some people try to avoid tax offices after being harassed at the entry-point when they applied for a TIN, the sources said.
The harassment starts from the issuance of TIN as the majority of potential tax-payers are forced to pay bribe to the taxmen to enroll as regular taxpayer.
A majority of the new taxpayers are compelled to pay an additional amount of many as "bribe" to obtain TIN certificates, many taxpayers said.
Acknowledging the alleged harassments, a top tax official said it is most embarrassing for them which is, according to them, tarnishing the image of the tax authority.
Moshiur Rahman, a new taxpayer who obtained TIN recently, expressed his strong resentment over harassment of the income-tax officials at a zonal office.
"Last week, I went to a circle office of income tax to obtain a TIN. I was ready to pay Tk 1000 fees for obtaining the TIN but the official, who is designated for the purpose of issuing the TIN, asked some extra bucks from me to give the number within 24 hours," he said.
"I got the TIN after two weeks as I declined to pay any bribe for the service," he said.
Such an unfriendly attitude of the tax offices discourages taxpayers from the very beginning to come under the tax net, he said.
Another new taxpayer, Solaiman Huq said he avoided tax offices after having bitter experiences at the time of obtaining a TIN certificate for starting his business.
"I obtained the TIN in 2006 from tax offices. I found the taxmen unusually harassing the taxpayers by asking different questions. I found them very rude and unfriendly while communicating with the new taxpayers," he alleged.
After experiencing the unfriendly attitude, Mr Huq neither went to the tax offices nor submitted any tax return.
He said a number of taxpayers drop out, after obtaining TIN, because of an unfriendly attitude on the part of the officials of the tax department.
According to the available data with the NBR, its tax offices issue 16,000 TIN every month on an average.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Doulot Akter Mala
Quelle/Source: The Financial Express Bangladesh, 01.06.2011
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