The National Board of Revenue (NBR) could not realise around Tk 6,542 crore in revenue because of 16,372 unresolved cases.
NBR sources said there might be a massive shortfall in revenue collection in the current fiscal year due to the global financial crisis and realisation of the arrears can help to achieve the target.
Sources said the tax administration has set a Tk 54,500 crore revenue collection target for the current fiscal year but the collection may not cross over Tk 51,000 crore.
Against the backdrop, the NBR has taken initiative to collect money through resolving the cases soon.
In 2007-2008 FY, the NBR collected Tk 47,287 crore in revenue against a target of Tk 45,970 crore.
As part of a special initiative to face the situation, NBR Chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid and other officials yesterday held a meeting with the law officers of the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) to work out a way to settle the cases.
After the meeting, Mazid told reporters that legal aspects of the issue were discussed during the meeting with state lawyers.
NBR will organise a weeklong training for the officials dealing with the cases from March 29 to April 3.
In many cases, the revenue related cases are not resolved in higher courts due to lack of competence of NBR officials and their inadequacy in relevant laws.
In the weeklong training programme, law officers of AGO and other senior lawyers will train up the NBR officials on handling of such cases.
Of the pending cases, 1,580 involve Tk 1,700 crore in income tax, 2,023 involve Tk 3,112 crore in value added tax (VAT) and 12,769 relate to Tk 1,730 crore in customs duty.
“We often find it difficult to work due to the pending cases. This backlog may tempt some people to do something illegal as it generally takes time for a case to be disposed of,” the NBR chairman said.
NBR targeted a 17 per cent revenue growth in the current fiscal, but so far it achieved a 12.41 per cent growth in first seven months of the fiscal.
During the July-January period, a total of Tk 26,696 crore was collected while it was Tk 23,748 crore at the same period of the last fiscal year.
A senior official said the global economic recession might make the revenue collection target hard. The collection may fall short of the target, he said.
The shortfall would be narrowed down if the cases could be settled soon, according to NBR officials.
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