Collect VAT at source until EFDs set up everywhere

Shop owners yesterday stressed on the need for collecting value added tax (VAT) at source until the government completed installing cash register machines on all kinds of stores.   

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) could only install 3,096 electronic fiscal devices (EFDs) across the country, which has created an imbalance in earnings of shop owners, said Bangladesh Shop Owners' Association.

The shopkeepers who have installed the EFDs are getting a lower number of customers and earning less compared to the ones that have no cash register machine at all, said leaders of the platform.

Some shops with no cash register machine are avoiding paying taxes whereas honest businesses are making less profits despite complying with the government's rule of installing the EFDs, said Helal Uddin, president of the association.

The association leaders were addressing a press conference at National Press Club in Dhaka.

The government has adopted a plan to install 10,000 EFDs in various types of business entities by June 2022.

According to the association, there are 53.72 lakh wholesale and retail organisations in the country employing 97,13,929 workers.

The organisation demanded targeting completing installing the EFDs in any single sector first and in all stores within the next two years.

It claimed that there were many instances of the NBR arbitrarily registering shops without informing their owners during the pandemic.

The association said Bangladesh was lagging behind Nepal in the collection of income tax. In the next two months, an income tax office should be set up in each upazila to increase tax collection, it said.

"I have noticed for a long time that the government puts extra pressure on those who are already paying income tax," said Zahirul Haque Bhuiyan, general secretary of the association.

Khandaker Ruhul Amin, president of Restaurant Owners Association, and Golam Maula, general secretary of Moulvibazar Business Association, were present.