The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has taken an initiative to increase supervision on the tobacco industry, aiming to ensure Value-added Tax (VAT), supplementary duty payoff and use of stamp and banderole on packets to curb tax evasion.
As part of this NBR initiative, the Customs, Excise & VAT Commissionerate, Chittagong issued an order on October 31, opting to supervise a port city-based tobacco company 24/7 through a team of VAT officials.
The Business Post has obtained a copy of this order, which mentions that the commissionerate team will monitor the actual revenue of that tobacco company and ensure proper taxation through correct use of stamp and banderole.
This team will also work on determining VAT, duties and taxes to be paid by the company in the coming days – based on key factors such as difference in brands, packets and the number of sticks contained within, read the order.
The commissionerate has asked the team to vet cautiously the company’s overall production and unloading of the products, in a bid to prevent any instances of illegal cigarette trade – including uses of fake or used banderoles.
This order further mentions that a new batch of cigarettes must be registered as sold as soon as the batch is produced. The commissionerate team will monitor the capacity of trucks, how much is being transported, and other key details of cigarette shipments.
The company’s production process will also be monitored 24/7.
According to NBR officials, the revenue board is going to be stricter on the tobacco industry than ever before as it is losing thousands of crores of taka every year because of the illegal use of banderoles, and other illicit activities.
Last year, the revenue board collected Tk 30,931 crore from the tobacco sector, of which Tk 29,856 crore came only from cigarettes. The NBR collected Tk 3,312 crore from cigarettes in the first two month of FY23, sources say.
