141 companies evade Tk 1,676cr in VAT

As many as 141 companies have evaded VAT worth Tk 1,676 crore according to an investigation of the VAT intelligence unit of the NBR.

It opened a probe into 233 companies on their financial statements for FY 2020-21, said a press release on Sunday.   

Of the 141 Vat dodgers, the Chattogram Port Authority was found to evade Tk 462.28 crore, Premier Bank Limited Tk 145.16 crore, United Commercial Bank Limited Tk 125.73 crore, Basic Bank Limited Tk 100.51 crore, Janata Bank Limited Tk 49.52 crore, American Life Insurance Company Limited Tk 48.84 crore, Sonali Bank Limited Tk 44.27 crore, ICB Capital Management Limited Tk 26.37 crore and Delta Life Insurance Limited Tk 25.28 crore.

Director General Moinul Khan of VAT Intelligence, Investigation and Audit Directorate, said they used to evade VAT through a number of ways.

Some of them faked a low turnover cooking up their real buy and sale figures while some produced one more annual CA report.

Most of them were found running businesses without VAT registration while some of them have not paid VAT to the NBR even after collection from their customers. Following a recent audit on the 141 firms, the NBR intelligence found the sorry figure. “On the spot, multiple companies were forced to pay Tk 143 crore to the government exchequer,” said Moinul Khan. 

Asked about it, M Reazul Karim, managing director, Premier Bank Limited, said this is an old issue which has already been settled. The banker claimed that there is an error in the calculation of Tk 145.16 crore on the part of the intelligence unit.