He came up with the proposal while placing the national budget for 2016-17 fiscal year in Parliament on Thursday.
Currently, the deadline for submission of tax returns is Sep 30 for individual taxpayers. The deadline is, however, extended every year on request from the taxpayers.
The minister said, “Sometimes, the deadline is extended several times. Taxpayers don’t submit returns with the assumption that the deadline will be extended.
“It delays the tax determination and revenue collection activities on the one hand and is undermining the importance of the law on return deadline on the other.”
Referring to the rigid return submission deadline in different countries, he said, “My proposal is that Bangladesh, too, will have a rigid return submission deadline, which will be called Tax Day.”
The Tax Day will fall on Oct 30 but will move a day if Oct 30 is a public holiday, Muhith said.
The minister expressed his ‘frustration’ with the low number of real taxpayers in the country.
According to him, only 1.2 million Bangladeshis file returns though 1.8 people have tax identification numbers (TIN).
Muhith said the number of returns submitted should increase.
“The number of taxpayers is shameful. Our target is to raise the number to 1.5 million from 1.2 million in the next fiscal year,” he added.
