Tax fair begins Tuesday

A weeklong Income Tax Fair will kick off in Dhaka city and 7 divisional headquarters of Bangladesh on Tuesday.

This is the first time the National Board of Revenue (NBR) will organise the fair in its own building in Dhaka`s Agargaon area. The fair will open at 10am and continue till 5pm everyday.

The taxpayers will be able to file tax returns online from the fair for the first time this year.

The income tax fair at the district level will be held on any four days of the week, while a one- or two-day fair will be held in 86 upazilas during the period.

The NBR has completed all the necessary preparations to hold its annual weeklong income tax fair.

It collected Tk 20.35 billion (2035.32 crore) as revenue from the weeklong fair last year. Some 757,754 taxpayers got various services from the fair whereas a number of 1,61,060 taxpayers submitted their income tax returns in the fair.

This year, the NBR will collect income tax returns in both old and new formats.

To reduce the hassles of the taxpayers, the NBR simplified the income tax return form from this fiscal. Instead of the eight-page form, the taxpayers from this year will fill up a three-page one in the new format.

November 30 will be the last date for the submission of income tax returns unlike the previous years when September 30 was the last date for the submission.

According to sources at the NBR, interest will be imposed on the income tax returns that will be submitted after November 30.

Our Chittagong correspondent adds: A weeklong income tax fair also begins in Chittagong from Tuesday with a view to encouraging people to pay taxes properly. Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, MP is scheduled to inaugurate the fair at GEC Convention Center in the city at 10 am.

The NBR has fixed the target of collecting Tk 95.50 billion (Tk 9,550 crore) from four zones of Chittagong, said Income Tax officials at a press conference at the Agrabad Commercial Area office in city on Sunday. Nazrul Islam, Income Tax Commissioner of zone 1 in Chittagong  gave details about the fair.

 He said that last year (2015) the four zones in Chittagong realised Tk 70.52 billion from the fair and they hope this year`s target of  Tk 95.50 billion would be realized accordingly.

Commissioner of Tax Appellate Division in Chittagong region Mahbub Hossain, Commissioner of Tax zone 2 Prodyut Kumar Sarkar, Commissioner of Tax zone 3 Motahar Hossain, Commissioner of Tax zone 4 Ahmed Ullah and Additional Commissioner Bazlul Kabir Bhuiyan also spoke at the press conference, according to a news agency.