The Bangladesh Jeweller's Association (Bajus) has urged the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to take decisive action against non-VAT registered jewellery businesses to ensure a level playing field in the domestic market.

In a letter, Bajus commended the recent move by the NBR to introduce Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFDs) in jewellery shops to streamline VAT collection.

Currently, only 8,000 jewellery shops in Bangladesh have value-added tax (VAT) registration, while three times that number—approximately 32,000—remain outside the VAT net, the association said.

However, Bajus claimed that this significant number of businesses are still evading VAT registration, creating an uneven playing field in the industry.

"This is leading to substantial revenue losses for the government and must be addressed immediately," said Babul Chandra Roy, general secretary of Bajus.

To safeguard industry fairness and bolster government revenue, Bajus has urged the authorities to implement stringent monitoring and enforcement actions against non-compliant jewellery establishments.

Over the past 15 years, the government has attempted to bring retailers under the VAT net to boost overall tax collection by introducing electronic sales registers.

Yet, compliance remains largely absent.

As part of its efforts to improve compliance, the NBR recently met with Bajus to bring its members under the EFD system.

So far, it has managed to install only 1,000 EFDs in jewellery shops, according to the NBR.