The performance of the Alternative Dispute Resolution system of the National Board of Revenue appeared dismal as very insignificant number of taxpayers adopted it to resolve disputes through this process, according to NBR sources.
Taxpayers referred only 743 cases to the NBR for settling through ADR process in the last three years after introduction of the system in 2012, it was learnt.
Currently, there are 22,747 disputes related to income tax, customs duty and value-added tax that remained pending in different courts.
All these disputes involving Tk 25,782 crore in revenue are eligible to be referred to ADR for settlement, officials of the revenue board said.
The NBR recovered only Tk 119.87 crore in income tax, customs duty and VAT through resolving 375 disputes with the help of ADR process though it targeted to recover at least Tk 500 crore a year.
NBR officials said taxpayers were not showing interest to resolve the disputes through ADP mainly because of lack of awareness though the process takes less time and minimizes the costs of settlement.
The revenue board also failed to create awareness among the taxpayers and tax lawyers about the
benefits of adopting the system as a means of resolving tax disputes, they added.
In March 2012, the revenue board introduced the ADR to realise the stuck-up revenues through speedy settlement of the disputes.
According to the NBR data, income tax wing settled the highest 305 disputes out of 390 referred cases and recovered Tk 115 crore.
There are 2,711 cases involving Tk 7,413 crore in income tax that remained pending in different courts.
The taxpayers’ response to resolve disputes related to VAT, the biggest field of disputes in terms of revenue, is very unsatisfactory and frustrating as only 5 cases were submitted to the NBR though there are 2,566 pending cases involving Tk 13,534 crore, a high official of the revenue board told New Age.
VAT wing realised only Tk 1.52 crore through resolving three disputes, he said.
Customs wing recovered Tk 3.35 crore through settling 67 disputes, according to the NBR data.
Taxpayers submitted 348 disputes to the NBR for resolving those through ADR process.
There are 17,470 cases related to customs duties that remained stuck at courts involving Tk 4,835 crore in revenue.
Officials said that the NBR instructed the field offices to motivate taxpayers, mainly businesses, so that they adopt the process.
Field offices are arranging meetings with the taxpayers to motivate them and publishing advertisements to create awareness among the taxpayers, they said.
Source: New Age
