The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) and the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) have requested the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to extend the deadline for submission of income tax returns.
FBCCI, the country’s apex business organisation, urged the board to extend the deadline to December 31 in a letter sent to NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem recently.
According to the new Income Tax Act-2023, the last date for income tax return submission is November 30.
FBCCI said that businessmen did not have much time to prepare the returns due to the delay in the implementation of the new act and the late release of income tax circulars.
Moreover, many taxpayers may not be able to file income tax returns by November 30 due to the current political situation and upcoming national polls. That’s why the deadline needs to be extended until December 31, it said.
FBCCI President Mahbubul Alam, in the letter, said that various trade associations have requested FBCCI to urge the NBR to extend the deadline for filing income tax returns. That’s why FBCCI urged NBR to extend the deadline till December 31 in line with Section 334 of the Income Tax Act-2023.
The new act mandates the submission of returns by tax day. NBR may declare tax day to be observed on any other day after November 30 to extend the deadline for return submission.
Meanwhile, CCCI President Omar Hajjaj on Wednesday in a letter to the NBR chairman also urged the board to extend the deadline to January 31, 2024.
Hajjaj also cited the same reasons, among others, as Mahbubul.
Earlier, some other business chambers also requested the NBR to extend the deadline.
The Dhaka Taxes Bar Association called for extending the return submission deadline by two more months.
The return submission of the incumbent tax year started on July 1 and tax information service month has also been running throughout November across the country.
According to the tax law, taxpayers who fail to submit income tax returns on time will have to pay an additional 4 per cent interest on tax liabilities each month for 24 months and also will not be allowed to get any tax exemption facilities.
The government has set a revenue collection target at Tk 4,30,000 crore for the ongoing FY2023-24. Of which, a Tk 1,54,000 crore revenue target has been set for the income tax wing of NBR.
