VAT re-registration begins today

The National Board of Revenue is set to begin online VAT re-registration for big companies today, as part of its drive to implement the new law under an automated platform, officials said yesterday.

Under the initiative, 172 companies will be given re-registration, said Zakir Hossain, deputy project director of VAT Online.

Companies that accomplish VAT related tasks at the Large Taxpayers Unit will get a 9-digit number, which will replace the existing 11-digit number once the new VAT law becomes effective.

LTU companies, which account for over half the annual VAT receipts, are going to be pioneers in re-registration for business identification numbers.

Officials of large companies will collect their re-registration numbers themselves by providing all the required information online, said Hossain. “This is a pilot scheme. It will provide us scope to see whether firms face any problem in re-registration. Then we can address the issues opening the system for all to re-register online.”

The revenue authority plans to open re-registration for BIN for all from January, according to the official. Currently, there are 6.8 lakh VAT registered firms. Some 30,000 submit returns, according to officials. The official said companies will require filing returns using the nine-digit BIN once the new VAT law, framed in 2012, comes into force.

The latest law, which will replace the VAT Act 1991, will be implemented under an automated platform. It envisages a flat 15 percent VAT rate instead of various types of rates that are now in effect. In fiscal 2015-16, the NBR collected Tk 30,417 crore from the large companies in manufacturing and service sectors, including cigarette makers, energy, mobile phone operators, large cement manufacturers and most banks.

The amount was 54 percent of total VAT collection at the domestic stage for that year, according to NBR.