The government has decided to go ahead with its plan to implement the VAT and Supplementary Tax Act 2012 and levy a uniform 15 percent VAT across the board from Jul 1.
Published : 24 Jan 2017, 10:25 PM
However, faced with traders opposing the move, Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said he will hold talks with traders and businessmen on the issue.
Speaking to journalists after a meeting at the Secretariat on Tuesday, Muhith said, "There are many allegations and counter allegations regarding VAT. Our business community has not yet accepted it properly. We had an internal discussion on that."
"I had sought a report on this from a former staffer. He submitted it and we discussed it and it needs further discussion," he said.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) had recently held talks with the businesses, the minister revealed and added that he also wants to hold talks with them in a bid to 'know their stand' on the VAT issue.
"After that, maybe will take some decision," he said.
But despite the talks with the businesses, the government is firm on the implementation of VAT from Jul 1 as scheduled, the finance minister asserted.
"That has been more or less accepted by everyone. If they oppose it, it won't be a good thing to do," he said.
The new law seeks to impose 15 per cent VAT on all goods and services.
Only traders with less than Tk 3 million yearly turnover have been exempted from the 15 percent VAT slab.
The traders are, however, demanding a 7 percent VAT.
When asked about it, Muhith said, "They previously wanted various rates, not 15 percent but differential rates. I said let it be 15 percent."
He, however, did not rule out having variable rates in the future.
"After we are a little accustomed to it, we may think of variable rates. It is a good decision to go for fixed rates first," he said.
On the issue of revenue returns, Muhith is in disagreement with a CPD estimate that says that Tk 400 billion worth of revenue would be gathered by the year end.
He questioned the basis on which the estimate has been made.
The government has set the target of collecting Tk 2.03 trillion worth of revenue this year.
Muhith also revealed that the new chairman of the Rajshahi Agricultural Development Bank would take charge within the next couple of days.