The office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of Bangladesh has decided to conduct a performance audit of the existing VAT Management and Automation system and assess the outcome of the Tk 6.90 billion VAT Online Project (VOP).
The move came at a time when the VOP implementation wing is struggling to maintain the digitised services developed under the project that ended on June 30 in 2021, keeping some of the major steps incomplete.
The revenue audit directorate under the CAG recently sought cooperation of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to conduct the audit.
ATM Mahfuzar Rahman, director of revenue audit directorate, sent a letter to the NBR chairman seeking necessary data for the performance audit.
Talking to the FE, Mr Rahman said the move aimed at assessing the VOP output and its impact on completion.
For the first time, the directorate has decided to conduct a performance audit of a NBR activity, considering involvement of a large chunk of funds in the project and expectations on it.
Mr Rahman, however, said the audit officials were facing difficulties to get access to VAT data. "We have written a letter to the NBR seeking cooperation on data-sharing but yet to get any reply," he said.
The wing under the CAG would examine whether the goal and targets of the VOP are achieved and maintained following the austerity and efficiency measures effectively, he added.
Usually, the revenue audit directorate conducts three types of audit---financial, compliance and performance.
Earlier, the department conducted compliance and financial audits of the NBR-related projects.
Following directives of the CAG office, the department took the step to audit existing VAT management and automation implementation activity, official sources said.
In the performance parameter, the CAG will review whether the VOP project followed government system and austerity, and was implemented with skills and effectiveness.
"The audit department scrutinises the project impartially, objectively and in a dependable way," the letter reads.
Under the performance audit activity, the CAG will prepare a report on fulfillment of the goals and targets of the VOP as per the Development Project Proposal (DPP) or revised DPP, it added.
The performance audit is not related to revenue or VAT collection or determination of actual payable VAT like that of compliance audit.
"The opinion of the audit report would help expedite the pace of VAT management and automation implementation," the wing wrote.
The CAG sought necessary cooperation of the VOP implementing officials and its related departments, tribunal, VAT circles to conduct the audit.
Official sources said the planned audit is a timely step as the implementation of the project is facing challenges in recent times.
Scarcity of manpower, logistics and funds forced the VOP implementation wing to suspend some services to the VAT payers, including authentication SMS, they said.
The project outcomes included digitisation of VAT registration known as Business Identification Number (BIN), VAT return and some other services.
However, some of the servers under the automation system have already gone out of order for lack of necessary maintenance and officials apprehended that the services are likely to become yet more vulnerable unless necessary maintenance funds are made available immediately.
In a recent press briefing, the NBR chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem said the board will sit in a meeting soon to review the outcome of VOP and its operability.
A senior VAT official said the NBR high-ups need to address the difficulties faced on implementation of the Integrated VAT system (IVAS).
Collection of VAT, one of the major sources of tax revenue, might face difficulties if IVAS collapses, he said.
VAT officials, however, said the VOP has been implemented maintaining austerity as around 40 per cent of the project fund remained unspent.
Officials said the VOP had to drop some planned steps due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The NBR launched the project on May 09 in 2014 with the fund support from the World Bank (WB) and the government.
