ICAB seeks further steps to expand tax net

Expanding the tax net is acutely required amid the current situation, to enhance the tax GDP ratio and the government should take further steps to expand the tax net, said Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) President Md Shahadat Hossain on Friday.

He came up with the remarks in reaction to the proposed budget placed by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal for FY2023-24 in Parliament on Thursday, reads a press release.

“We believe that the joint initiative of NBR and ICAB in implementing a Document Verification System (DVS) will contribute to achieving the targeted revenue. We thank Finance Ministry (especially the finance division and internal resources division) for appreciating the implementation of DVS under the joint initiative of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and ICAB and for stating that the system is successfully running to verify the accuracy of audited accounts submitted by the taxpayers”, ICAB chief said.

“We also thank the finance minister for recognising the fact that the DVS initiative has increased authenticity and transparency in income shown by the taxpayer companies. The government has taken the challenge of implementing a development budget of Tk 277,582 crore which is a very encouraging step to move forward for a developing country like ours. Additional budget in the infrastructure sector is a commendable step taken by the government”, he added.

ICAB also appreciated the changes recommended by the government in the VAT and Supplementary Duty Act. It also recommended the submission of an ex-bond bill of entry for clearance of bonded goods for home consumption as well as the replacement of the definition of a bill of entry to accommodate the same.

“We thank the Prime Minister and Finance Minister for the Budget 2023-24, which is business friendly and will help Bangladesh to upgrade gradually to position itself in the middle-income group. We also thank you for accepting ICAB’s budget proposals in many aspects which will facilitate Bangladesh to merge forward to vision 2041”, Shahadat Hossain added.