Ctg Customs on hard line to collect arrears

Blaming various government agencies and departments for failing to achieve the annual revenue target in FY2021-22, Chittagong Customs House (CHC) has now taken a serious stance in collecting the arrears.

The country’s largest revenue collector is responsible for collecting duties mainly from import and export goods coming and going through Chittagong Port.

In FY2021-22, CHC handled the country’s 95 per cent of overseas trade, collecting Tk 59,297 crore against its Tk 64,075 crore target.

At the end of FY2021-22, several government institutions owed CHC Tk 3,884 crore. Of that, Petrobangla alone owes Tk 3,699 crore for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) import.

The other government agencies and departments that owe CHC arrears include many from the energy sector and Bangladesh Police.

“If there were no arrears, we would have reached very close to the target by the end of the fiscal year,” CHC Commissioner Fakhrul Alam told The Business Post.

“The backlog is with almost all the government institutions of the energy sector. We are working to try and recover [that money],” he added.

Fakhrul said, “We have written to Petrobangla and other companies more than once, but they have not responded. Now, the CHC in collaboration with the authorities concerned will proceed as per the law to recover the arrears.”

Besides Petrobangla, Padma Oil Company owes Tk 116.73 crore, Meghna Petroleum Tk 28.40 crore, Standard Asiatic Oil Tk 57 lakh, Summit LNG Tk 5.11 crore, Accelerate Energy Tk 13 lakh, and Bangladesh Police owes CHC Tk 34.21 crore.

According to the Customs House, since the beginning of February, Petrobangla did not pay any tax on LNG imports in the last five months of FY2021-22.

Last week, CHC ‍sent a letter to Petrobangla, asking it to pay the arrears. It mentioned that customs would go for forcing Petrobangla to pay the arrears in line with Section 202 of the Customs Act.

Sources say Petrobangla pays 17 per cent VAT and other taxes for LNG imports. The state-owned company has stopped paying the taxes, following a decision from the higher-ups, as it has suffered huge financial losses over the last year.

Petrobangla has lost about Tk 25,000 crore on LNG imports in FY2021-22, of which the government has subsidized Tk 6,000 crore, said Golam Mortaza, general manager (Financial Management) of the company.

The taxes could not be paid mainly due to the financial crisis, he said, adding that a proposal has been made to the government at the ministry level to withdraw the tax on LNG imports.

Meanwhile, a senior official at Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) said the arrears of Padma Oil and Meghna Petroleum, subsidiaries of BPC, are long overdue. They have discussed the matter with the National Board of Revenue several times.

CHC sources also said that Bangladesh Police is paying the arrears, which were backlogged after it imported vehicles, in instalments.

Although the target was not achieved, the amount of revenue collected by CHC in FY2021-22 is 15 per cent higher than the amount in FY2020-21. Last year, CHC had collected Tk 51,576 crore in revenues.