Some 88 percent of shops still remain out of the Value Added Tax (VAT) net, according to a recent survey conducted by the VAT Intelligence and Investigation Directorate.

Out of 1,024 shops at eight markets in Dhaka, Narayanganj and Savar, 904 shops don’t pay VAT as per the study findings.

Three teams of the VAT Intelligence completed the survey on Thursday, said a release on Friday.

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Among the 1024 shops, the number of VAT registered shops is only 120. Of the VAT registered shops, only 45 ones pay above Tk 5,000 as VAT, while the remaining 75 shops pay less than Tk 5,000.

But the survey teams got evidence that evethe payments of the shoppers who deposit VAT mismatched with their operation costs and profit of the shops.

In some cases, the shoppers collected VAT from buyers but didn’t pay to the government fund properly.

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The eight markets are Mark Tower, Somobay New Market, Sayeem Plaza, Al Hakim (Popular) Centre in Narayanganj; City Centre in Savar; and Tropical Alauddin Tower and RK Shopping Complex at Uttara and Suvastu Nazar Valley at Badda in Dhaka.

But 500 shops at Suvastu Nazar Valley were mandatorily registered on Thursday.

Deputy Director of the Intelligence Tanvir Ahmed led the survey in Narayanganj, while it’s Assistant Director Munwar Mursalin in Dhaka and assistant director Malekin Nasir Akand in Savar. A total of 42 intelligence officials took part in this work.

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According to the survey report, shoppers outside Dhaka are more reluctant to pay VAT and less interested to follow the VAT laws.

Conducting another survey in two AC markets –-Index Plaza and Jaman Shopping Complex-- in Narsingdi on May 25 last, it found that all the 237 shops in the two markets don’t pay VAT.