Dhaka: The National Board of Revenue (NBR) convened separate review meetings yesterday to assess the revenue collection progress of its Customs, VAT, and Income Tax divisions for July of the current fiscal year (FY26). The meetings took place at the NBR conference room in the capital under the leadership of Md. Abdur Rahman Khan, Secretary of the Internal Resources Division and NBR Chairman.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the NBR Chairman highlighted the importance of facilitating trade while effectively enforcing existing laws during the review of the Customs and VAT wings’ performances. He cautioned against unwarranted suspicions leading to the locking of importers’ or exporters’ BINs and recommended risk-based assessments using historical data from the ASYCUDA system. He emphasized that genuine and compliant importers-exporters should not face harassment.
The Chairman instructed customs houses and intelligence offices to provide clear explanations in monthly revenue meetings regarding BIN lock
s and the additional revenue generated from such actions. He also stressed the importance of collecting VAT strictly according to the law and focusing efforts on bringing non-payers under the VAT net while taking action against VAT evaders.
In a push for automation, the Chairman mandated that all bond-related activities must be conducted online within the next month, with clear service timelines. Accountability measures will be enforced for officials who fail to meet these timelines. Furthermore, he ordered the cancellation of bond licenses and legal action against officials involved if goods imported under bond facilities are found in the open market.
The Chairman tasked commissioners with providing updates at every monthly meeting and directed customs houses to expedite auction processes to alleviate container congestion, aiming to dispose of old containers at ports through auction by December 2025.
For the Income Tax wing, the NBR Chairman advised deploying adequate manpower across commissionerates to s
upport taxpayers in filing e-returns and providing continuous support via call centers. He called for the full integration of the eTIN and eTDS systems to ensure automatic updates of taxpayers’ data and jurisdiction.
He urged vigorous efforts to collect arrear taxes by applying existing laws, resolving pending audit cases, and generating tax demands through audits. While automated and transparent audit selection initiatives for individual taxpayers are ongoing, he stressed the necessity of extending this system to corporate taxpayers.
All TIN holders failing to file income tax returns are to be issued notices, with their financial activities verified through investigation. Tax zones have been directed to bolster intelligence operations to detect tax evasion and expedite return processing under the Income Tax Act.
To enhance oversight, NBR monitoring members responsible for supervising tax commissioners will meet at least one commissioner weekly to review non-filers, tax evasion detection, return processing
, and audit case disposal, subsequently briefing the NBR Chairman.
The meetings saw participation from all commissioners of the Customs, VAT, and Income Tax wings, along with NBR members. Attendees reaffirmed their commitment to comprehensive measures aimed at boosting revenue collection and increasing the tax-to-GDP ratio.