The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is holding month-long mini-tax fairs in the field-level tax offices across the country to help taxpayers submit their tax returns without any hassle.
All of the 31 tax zones have set up separate booths on their premises to receive tax returns.
The deadline for submitting tax returns by individual taxpayers will expire on November 30, 2020.
Like previous years, the NBR is not holding tax fair on a large scale this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Almost one-fourth of individual taxpayers submit tax returns in the tax fairs every year amid huge enthusiasm. People enjoy the hassle-free and taxpayers-friendly environment in the tax fairs compared to that of the tax offices.
Tax officials said the mini-tax fairs in the tax zones are providing similar services to the taxpayers like large-scale tax fairs.
However, taxpayers who usually submit returns in the tax fair are still not aware of the mini-tax fairs in the tax zones.
A taxpayer, who works for a multinational company, said the NBR should make the taxpayers aware about the mini-tax fairs in the tax zones.
"I submit tax returns in the tax fair every year without hassle. I want to get a similar facility in the tax zones," he added.
The NBR expects higher tax returns as it has made it mandatory for all TIN-holders from this year.
However, the income of some people, especially businesses, has declined while a number of people have lost their jobs during the pandemic.
Officials have expressed fear that the number of existing taxpayers may drop this year due to financial crunch for losing jobs or incurring a loss in the businesses.
In the budget for the current fiscal year, the finance minister has revised the tax-free ceiling for individual taxpayers upward to Tk 0.3 million from Tk 250,000.
Last year some 2.2 million taxpayers submitted their tax returns to the NBR. Of them, 655,000 taxpayers submitted their tax returns in the tax fairs.
The NBR is holding tax fairs every year since 2010.
After visiting some tax offices, it has been found that mini-tax fairs are yet to get momentum due to lack of sufficient campaign by NBR.
Tax officials expect a rush of taxpayers after November 15 as most of the taxpayers come at the last time.
Taxpayers can submit their tax returns in the tax fairs within the shortest possible time as the tax offices are not allowing gathering on their premises on health safety grounds.
Taxpayers can pay their tax through mobile financial services (MFS) such as bKash, and Rocket from anywhere in the country before submitting their returns in the mini-tax fairs.
