What NBR Chairman said about black money whitening

In view of the demands of businessmen and common people, the opportunity to whiten black money has been kept, said Chairman of National Board of Revenue (NBR) Abu Hena Md. Rahmatul Munim.

He said this at the post-budget press conference at Osmani Smriti Auditorium on Abdul Gani Road in the capital on Friday at 3 pm.

At that time, NBR chairman said, this was done mainly due to various reasons, there are some unexpected amounts, which were not shown in the return for some reason. Land becomes black without our knowledge in buying and selling. Validate the money that was not returned due to such reasons. Demands came from businessmen, demands came from common people.

Most of the illegal income is smuggled and goes on luxury, said Chairman of the National Revenue Board, Abu Hena Md. Rahmatul Munim.

Finance Minister Abul Hasan Mahmud Ali said in response to a question from journalists about the reliance on bank loans in the budget, taking loans from banks is a standard procedure. All this is done by the finance minister. We have tried to keep it at 5 percent.

In the press conference, Prime Minister's Finance Adviser Mosiur Rahman said, 'The government is conscious of protecting the balance of the banking sector.'

Minister of Finance Abul Hasan Mahmud Ali, Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives attended the press conference organized by the Ministry of Finance. Tajul Islam, Minister of Planning Major General (retd) Abdus Salam, Minister of Industry Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, Minister of Housing and Public Works Ram Ubaidul Moktadir Chowdhury, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Mosiur Rahman, Minister of Agriculture Dr. Md. Abdus Shaheed, Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Naufel, Commerce Minister Ahsanul Islam Titu, Finance State Minister Wasika Ayesha Khan, Cabinet Secretary Md. Mahbub Hossain, Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rauf Talukdar, National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Abu Hena Md. Rahmatul Munim and others.

The proposed budget says that if a person pays 15 per cent tax and includes their undisclosed assets in the tax return, no one, including the Income Tax authorities, can raise any questions about black money.

Owners of black money can take this opportunity between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025. At the same time, even if land, flats, apartments are bought without question, they can be legalized by paying the taxes fixed according to the area.

Earlier, the opportunity to whiten black money was kept subject to conditions till the last financial year 2021-22. That opportunity was no longer held in the next financial year. At the same time, the opportunity to whiten black money through investment in plots, flats and capital market is also removed.

However, any person could whitewash the undisclosed amount by paying tax at the specified rate at any time in accordance with the Income Tax Act. But then he had an opportunity to ask questions.

Finance Minister Mahmud Ali said in the budget speech about black money and white wealth, it is necessary to keep the economy of the country dynamic in the changing economic situation due to the ongoing global crisis. In order to generate and maintain effective demand in the economy, sufficient government expenditure should be provided on the one hand, and on the other hand, economic activities in the private sector should also be kept dynamic.

He said, the introduction of Data Verification System (DVS) has created complications in showing undisclosed income and assets of various companies. Besides, there may be errors in showing the acquired wealth due to some unavoidable reasons including ignorance of the taxpayer in filing the return.

“In this situation, I propose to add a clause on tax incentives in the Income Tax Act to provide taxpayers with an opportunity to correct these errors in their income tax returns and to increase the flow of money into the mainstream economy.”

The finance minister said that according to the proposed provisions, irrespective of the prevailing laws of the country, no authority can raise any question if a taxpayer pays 15 percent tax on immovable property such as flats, apartments and land at fixed tax rates and on other assets including cash.

Bangladesh /MP