Bangladesh resumes tax return filings online amid pandemic

The National Board of Revenue or NBR has resumed tax return filings online to facilitate hassle-free submissions amid coronavirus outbreak

Although the procedure was kickstarted with submission for Dhaka’s tax zone-6, NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem assured that the process will be available for all zones of the country by 2021 by visiting the address - https://taxeszone6.gov.bd/

Taxpayers had been able to file returns online over the last three years through a software created by Vietnamese company FTP Information System Corporation. But it became inaccessible following the end of the contract with the company.

“I don’t think paying taxes is difficult for TIN-holders. Rather the process of submitting is. To resolve this issue, we created the software to facilitate submission of income tax directly online,” Muneem said on Sunday after inaugurating the resumption of the process.

As many as 135,000 taxpayers reside in the tax zone-6. The online tax filings also address the fear of an escalation of coronavirus infections discouraging in-person filings to avoid contact.

The NBR chief, however, felt the method would require a lot of improvement.

“We just entered the online return submission platform. We will develop this and proceed with online submissions in other zones of Dhaka based on this,” he said.

“If we could begin this project in the beginning of this year, we could have brought the other tax zones under the online procedure. We hope all zones of the country will offer the service next year.”

Clients would get the receipt for online returns immediately after submission, he said.

Drawing attention to the importance of the online submission method, Mohammad Jahid Hasan, the commissioner of taxes for zone-6, pointed out that the officials responsible for handling online procedure needed to remain vigilant to avoid blunders.