Online VAT registration starts next month
The National Board of Revenue plans to launch online VAT registration for companies next month as part of its plan to automate its system under the new law, officials said yesterday.
The revenue authority has started giving re-registration to the companies that comply with rules and submit returns regularly. After the completion of this phase, the NBR will ask businesses to re-register online.
“We will make the registration form online from mid-June. Anyone will be able to get fresh registration or re-register online for business identification numbers or BINs,” said the official. Officials said businesses will be offered nine-digit BINs instead of present 11 digits the integrated VAT administration system that is currently being developed by a Vietnamese firm.
Once developed, the IVAS will integrate the 340 VAT offices across the country as well as Bangladesh Bank, the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the income tax department to facilitate electronic payment and processing of documents to enforce the new VAT law from July.
Passed in 2012, the new law imposes a uniform 15 percent VAT rate at every stage of value addition, putting an end to multiple rates. Officials said businesses will be required to file returns online once they complete their re-registration.
The online system, which the government is developing to enforce the new law under a Tk 551 crore project, is expected to increase the number of active registered VAT-payers to 85,000 in five years, according to a World Bank estimate.
Currently, there are more than eight lakh firms registered for VAT payment, but only an insignificant number -- as low as 32,000 -- submit returns regularly, said revenue officials.
The automation of the VAT system is expected to reduce both administration and compliance costs because of online registration, filing and tax payments. The NBR also expects that implementation of the law will increase revenue collection.
Comments