Rich less keen as tax amnesty time ends

People mostly from middle and lower-middle income groups came up with information of their undisclosed income under the special opportunity given by the National Board of Revenue (NBR), which ended yesterday.
"I went to different tax offices today [Sunday] and found that people were mostly depositing Tk 2,000-4,000 as taxes to disclose slim amounts of undisclosed income," NBR Chairman Badiur Rahman said at a briefing at his office.
Tax payment under the special opportunity was satisfactory, he said, adding that the targeted affluent section of people, who had earned a huge amount of money and inquired about the rules frequently, did not ultimately respond well to the opportunity.
According to NBR sources, as of Saturday 25,927 people legalised about Tk 3,645 crore paying taxes worth Tk 595 crore.
The NBR chairman said the government's changed attitude towards the ongoing anti-corruption drive--its assurance that no fresh list of graft suspects will be prepared--may have encouraged the rich to refrain from disclosing their income.
"The affluent might have thought that they would get opportunity to spend their hidden income on the coming festivals, including the Eids, and the year-long elections next year," Badiur said.
Replying to a question, he said if the Election Commission makes it mandatory for all election candidates to submit their wealth statements and if it seeks the candidates' wealth statements, the NBR will provide it.
Badiur told reporters that those who disclosed their income will not be asked for their sources of income further.
The opportunity was granted on June 5 for people who earned money legally but did not disclose that for various reasons. The previous time limit for this was July 31 but the NBR extended it following requests from different sections of people.
Badiur said the NBR will go for tougher action against those who still possess undeclared taxable income.
The NBR chairman said the culture of extending time for submitting income tax return will be discarded from the next fiscal year.