More than 4.75 lakh vehicles have been registered with fake Tax Identification Number (TIN), cashing in on the lack of coordination between the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
As a result, the government is being deprived of huge amount of revenue every year, according to the information obtained from the two government agencies.
It has also been learnt that at the beginning of last year, the Central Tax Survey Region collected data on 1,821 luxury vehicles from the BRTA as part of its regular activities. The vehicles included BMW, Volvo, Mercedes Benz, Audi, Lexus, Jaguar, Hammer, Prado and Harrier. It was seen that fake TINs (Taxpayers Identification Number or Taxpayer Identification Number) were used for the registration of 128 out of 891 vehicles. Officials of both the organizations were moved by the figure. BRTA system integration with the TIN server started afterwards to stop the activities of fake TIN holders.
According to the source, a meeting was held in last January at the conference room of NBR on the occasion of system integration. The meeting was attended by senior officials of BRTA. In the presentation of the IT section of the NBR at the meeting, it was said that after the system integration, TIN was found in the software of BRTA against the registration of 12,65, 572 vehicles. Of these, TINs of 8,00,043 vehicles are authentic but the remaining 4,65, 529 TINs are not authentic. In other words, these vehicles were registered with fake TIN.
In this regard, BRTA Chairman Noor Mohammad said that some inconsistencies have been detected in vehicle registration after the integration of the system. The NBR and BRTA are working together to address these issues. Both companies can verify necessary information for new car registration in the future. He also said that the system of BRTA is being upgraded. As a result, if someone has more than one car, tax can be collected according to the income tax law. Apart from this, vehicle registration using fake TIN will be stopped.
Alamgir Hossain, a member of the NBR's income tax policy, said it was not possible to track down fake TIN users. As the system integration of the two companies has taken place, fake TIN holders will be caught while renewing the registration of vehicles. As a result, genuine TIN has to be submitted for renewal of registration. NBR will then re-open the tax files of the owners of those vehicles.
The Income Tax Ordinance provides for imprisonment, including financial penalties for using fake TIN. According to section 124A, if a person uses another person's TIN or fake TIN or in cases where the use of TIN is mandatory under the Income Tax Ordinance, there is a provision to impose a maximum fine of Tk 20,000. On the other hand, even if the service provider does not carry out TIN verification while providing the service, there is a provision to impose penalty on that company. According to Section 124AA of the Income Tax Ordinance, the Income Tax Department can impose a maximum fine of up to Tk 50,000 on the service provider for not verifying the TIN certificate while providing services. According to Section 165A, if a person intentionally uses a fake TIN or uses another person’s TIN, the user is liable to imprisonment for a maximum term of three years or a fine of Tk 50,000 or both.
Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Dr. Iftekharuzzaman said the government has lost a huge amount of revenue due to registration of vehicles with fake TINs.
He said the main responsibility for this was with the BRTA. Although late, the matter has been detected. Now, it is time to take legal action by identifying those who have registered with fake TINs so that no one can commit such irregularities in the future, he added.
Dr. Iftekharuzzaman added that even though the NBR had enacted a law in 2015 to levy additional tax on the registration of multiple vehicles, the then officials should be held accountable as the BRTA could not collect it. There has been a huge loss of revenue. The BRTA cannot disobey the instructions of another agency being a government agency.
As per the rules, one has to apply for vehicle registration along with the required documents in the prescribed form of BRTA. After checking and sorting the application and attached documents, the customer is given an assessment slip from BRTA to pay the registration fee.
After depositing the fee, the vehicle has to be brought to the BRTA office for inspection. After inspecting the vehicle, all the information related to the ownership and the vehicle is included in the BRTA information system.
Assistant Director (Engineering) of BRTA then approves the registration. The receipt, fitness certificate and tax token are printed by mentioning the registration number and given to the customer along with the signatures of the concerned officers. In the course of the process, TIN certificate and advance / estimated income tax payment certificate is also required.
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