The government's revenue board requested the Office of the Attorney General to expedite the process of settling 11 large court cases involving Tk 24.30 billion (2430 crore) in VAT, officials said.
The High Court Division is dealing with those VAT (Value Added Tax) cases, most of them filed by the country's four mobile phone operators.
Grameenphone, Robi Axiata Limited, Banglalink Digital Communication Limited, and Airtel Bangladesh Ltd (now merged with Robi) filed those cases relating to VAT on commercial space and establishment rent and SIM replacement, according to the list of large revenue cases.
The list also includes two cases of a private commercial bank. Premier Bank Limited filed the cases regarding commercial space and establishment rent.
The Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) under the VAT wing of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) sent a letter to the office of Attorney General and also requested the Registrar of the High Court Division for intervention, officials said.
There is every possibility that the verdict will go in favour of the NBR in the cases, said a senior official at the LTU VAT.
He said the NBR got verdict in its favour from different courts including the VAT appellate tribunal in most of the cases.
Earlier, the LTU had got court verdicts in its favour in similar cases, he added.
The VAT wing is trying to get the cases resolved in the last quarter (April-May-June) of the current Fiscal Year (FY) to move closer to its revenue target, he said.
The LTU faced a shortfall of Tk 32.92 billion against its target until February of the current FY.
The aggregate target for the LTU has been set at Tk 503.12 billion. In the first eight months of the FY 2017-18, the LTU collected Tk 275.16 billion in VAT.
Apart from those 11 cases, the LTU has Tk 16 billion lying in revenue arrears with the British American Tobacco Bangladesh, due to the NBR's dilly-dallying for enforcing budgetary measures.
In the budget for the current FY, the NBR, through a special order, increased the price slab of international brand cigarettes but it is yet to give approval to the LTU to enforce the measure, officials said.
If the cases are resolved and verdicts come in favour of NBR, the four mobile companies may have to pay Tk 20.48 billion in VAT to the LTU on account of SIM replacement tax. The NBR claimed the amount in VAT for the period of July 2007 to December 2011.
Out of the eleven cases, the verdicts in eight delivered by the VAT appellate tribunal went against the telecom operators on May 7, 2017 and June 5, 2017.
Later, the companies filed appeal against those verdicts with the High Court Division.
Of the companies, the highest amount of disputed VAT worth Tk 10.23 billion is lying with the largest telecom operator of the country, Grameenphone, on account of SIM replacement tax.
Officials said LTU -VAT commissioner Md Matiur Rahman personally handed over the list of the 11 large cases to Attorney General Mahbubey Alam requesting him to settle the disputes within the shortest possible time.
