Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The Bangladesh government has extended the time for submitting income-tax return by one month aiming to collect more direct tax from individual taxpayers from across the country.
Under the new deadline, taxpayers will be able to submit their tax returns till November 1 this year. The old deadline was September 30.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR), the country’s central authority for tax administration, said in an announcement on Tuesday that the time for submitting return has been extended till October 31. But October 31 is a government holiday and the submission of tax return will be acceptable on November 1, 2009, it added.
The NBR has extended the date considering the long holidays due to Eid-ul-Fitr and Durga Puja, NBR Chairman Nasir Uddin Ahmed told reporters at his office in the capital, Dhaka on Tuesday.
Earlier, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), the country’s apex trade body, had requested the government to extend the time for submitting income-tax return, as many taxpayers could miss the set deadline.
There are more than 2.2 million tax identification number (TIN) holders across the country. Of them, only 0.67 million pay taxes, according to the NBR statistics.
The NBR believes they would get more tax returns as the submission date has been extended.
The income-tax-collection target has been fixed at US$2.40 billion (BDT 165.60 billion) for the current fiscal year, 27 percent higher than last year’s target.
In fiscal 2008-09, around 0.67 million taxpayers’ submitted tax returns involving $144.78 million (BDT 7.92 billion) out of 2.2 million TIN holders.
BBN/SS/SI/AD-30September09-2:28 am (BST)