Rules for mandatory submission of proof of tax return to the scheduled commercial banks have been bent for students and loan-seekers to certain limits for their convenience.
Following the relaxation by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) people not having taxable income won't have to submit tax-return slips for borrowing up to Tk 2.0 million.
Students will also be able to enjoy exemption from the mandatory provisions for credit-card transactions up to Tk 0.2 million.
The income-tax policy wing of the NBR issued Sunday a special order, signed by Second Secretary Md Mohidul Islam Chowdhury, to this effect.
The government imposed the mandatory provision in the current fiscal budget on the submission of tax-return slips for availing 38 types of services.
However, the Association of Bankers Bangladesh (ABB) has requested the revenue board for revisiting the provision in case of marginal group of people and preventing accumulation of funds in the informal economy.
Under the mandatory provision, the opening and continuation of bank accounts necessitate showing proof of tax-return submission.
Relatives and near ones of country's remittance-earners, mainly living in rural areas, would face problem in withdrawing cash from banks for this provision, says a former tax official.
"They do not have taxable income or earning of their own to show in the tax returns," he adds.
"Neither the government has sufficient tax offices in the upazila level nor those rural people are computer-savvy to submit online tax returns," he explains.
Bankers, however, said the provision could be enforced in phases to avoid accumulation funds in informal sector where documentation is not needed.
Small and Medium enterprise (SMEs) may again go back to the cooperative societies and Mohajons (moneylenders) switching from banks when bankers would ask them to furnish documentations, they said.
Submission of tax returns is still considered one of the complexes in Bangladesh for lack of awareness and campaign on simplified online tax-return system, sources say.
