The National Board of Revenue has instructed its two field offices to avoid double audit of the export-oriented industries, mainly readymade garment factories, to reduce hassle of the exporters, officials said.
They said that the revenue board has recently issued an order instructing the field offices to maintain transparency in conducting audit of the export-oriented industries.
Currently, Customs Bond Commissionerate conducts annual audit of export-oriented industries which enjoy duty-free import of raw materials under customs bonded warehouse facility to ensure export of products manufactured by these raw materials.
On the other hand, Customs Valuation and Internal Audit Commissionerate conducts annual comprehensive audit of the overall activities of the factories.
Exporters, particularly members of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association and other export-oriented sectors have been demanding for long to provide them with exemption from double audit done by two separate commissionerates of the revenue board.
Seeking introduction of single audit system, BGMEA and BKMEA claimed that double audit created several problems including preparation of extra documents for second audit which was a gigantic task as it required huge paper work, and involvement of manpower and valuable time, for them.
In many cases, exporters have to face harassment by tax officials in the name of audit.
In this situation, the NBR has provided them with exemption from double auditing to make export activities smoother and reduce hassle of businesses, officials said.
The revenue board has also formed a committee comprising officials from Customs Bond Commissionerate and Customs Valuation and Internal Audit Commissionerate to avoid duplication in audit, they said.
The committee will provide report to the revenue board every month in this regard, they said.
From now on, Customs Valuation and Internal Audit Commissionerate will not conduct audit of bonded warehouses.
NBR member (customs, bond) Khandaker Aminur Rahman at a meeting with the leaders of apparel sector last Sunday said that the revenue board instructed the officials concerned to exclude those portions from auditing which have been audited by bond commissionerate so that double auditing could be avoided.
‘Such move will ensure more transparency in audit activities which will also remove hassle for apparel sector,’ he said.
BGMEA officials, however, claimed that they were still getting notices from Customs Valuation and Internal Audit Commissionerate for providing documents for audit purpose.
Source: New Age
