Just like government employees, bank officials and staff in the four city corporations of Bangladesh are now required to submit their tax returns online. The Banking Regulations and Policy Department of Bangladesh Bank gave the instruction on Wednesday. Referring to a special order issued by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) on October 22, the announcement says all bank employees will have to follow the instructions. All managing directors and chief executive officers of scheduled banks operating in the country have been instructed to ensure that their employees adhere to the online tax return submission requirement. Read: Budget 2024-25: Businesses to face fines for not displaying tax return proof The central bank’s notice explained that this directive has been issued under the authority granted by Section 45 of the Banking Companies Act, 1991. To facilitate easier compliance for the 2024-2025 tax year, the NBR launched an online return submission system on September 9. Individual taxpayers can now conveniently prepare and file their returns online via the platform at www.etaxnbr.gov.bd. As of October 21, the number of returns filed online has exceeded 100,000.

The Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), the apex organization of businessmen, has requested the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to extend the deadline for submission of income tax returns. The federation in a letter to the NBR Chairman said that due to the late publication of income tax circulars in line with the new Income Tax Act 2023, the businessmen are not prepared to submit returns. Read: FBCCI urges political parties to avoid violence for economy's sake  So, the deadline for filing returns need be extended until December 31 this year. The letter said due to the current political situation and upcoming parliamentary elections, many taxpayers may be able to file income tax returns by November 30. Some other business chambers have also requested the NBR to extend the tax return submission deadline. Read: FBCCI emphasises signing FTA between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia  The Dhaka Taxes Bar Association has demanded an extension of the return submission deadline by another two months.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has extended the tax return submission deadline to 1 January considering the weekly holidays on December 30 and 31. The NBR issued a notification extending the deadline on Wednesday. Earlier, the revenue board extended the return submission deadline until  December31 ,2022 due to poor response from individual taxpayers. Read: NBR extends income tax returns submission date to Dec 31

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has omitted the requirement of tax return documents for bank loans up to Tk 20 lakh. The revenue board issued a notification in this regard today with immediate effect, which will be continued till June 30, 2023. The budget for the fiscal year 2022-23 made it mandatory to show tax return documents to get services under 38 categories. Of them, tax return documents were made mandatory for bank loans of over Tk 5 lakh. Read: NBR dreams to cross revenue Tk3.0 lakh crore in FY 22 As per the revised directive, NBR has relaxed conditions, after requests from business organizations, as small entrepreneurs were facing difficulties in showing tax-related documents. Bangladesh Bank has increased the ceiling of loan disbursement to cottage, micro, small and medium entrepreneurs (CMSMEs). But loan distribution at the rural level became slow due to mandatory tax return documents for loans. Considering the situation, the revenue board omitted requirement of showing tax return document for loan of up to Tk 20 lakh if the borrower has no taxable income. Read: Income Tax Wing of NBR racing to meet target in last 4 months of fiscal

At least half the country’s TIN holders are likely to miss the November 30 deadline to submit their tax returns amid experts’ call to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to go for a more bold and people-friendly tax collection campaign. Speaking on condition of anonymity a senior NBR official told UNB that the pace of manually submitted returns has been slow. He said he can’t disclose how many people submitted their returns manually until November 27, 2021. He, however, said some 33,653 taxpayers submitted their tax returns until Saturday (November 27) using the newly-launched eReturn system and a total of 71,500 taxpayers have registered digitally. Read: People’s interest in paying tax is growing in Bangladesh: Finance Minister The digital system ensured that there is no harassment, no bribe or no delay in issuing acknowledgement of tax certificates. A team of tax officials developed the system using the board's own resources. “The returns submission will take place on the last two days of November as usual like previous years and the number may not be less than the last year,” the official added. Some regular taxpayers complained that they did not get timely messages from NBR. Talking to UNB Abbas Uddin, a college teacher said, “I have been paying taxes for the past 11 years. I did not get any message from NBR.” When told of this complaint NBR member (tax policy) Md. Alamgir Hossain said that tax commissioner offices are organizing digital campaign in areas by sending SMS to the taxpayers Besides, NBR is using several media outlets to send out the information about tax return submissions, he said. He advised people to submit returns within the deadline otherwise they would have to explain the delay to the NBR through applications and pay extra fees for late submissions.