The National Board of Revenue has received a huge response in online registration for taxpayer identification numbers, officials said.
The number of online TIN registration by individual taxpayers and companies hit 10,572 in three days since the revenue authority launched a portal on July 1 to reduce taxpayers’ hassles.
Of the TINs, 3,224 are newly registered. The rest came from re-registration by existing taxpayers. Some 113 companies and firms also got TINs online.
“We didn’t expect such a huge response. It shows people have taken online registration positively,” said NBR member Rahela Choudhury, who spearheaded a team of 13 officials to implement the system.
“We will now take steps to encourage the existing and prospective taxpayers to get TINs online, she added.
The initiative to provide TINs online is part of a plan to digitise the entire tax payment system.
The move will also help the revenue authority to streamline its existing TIN database, which contains many fake and inactive accounts, and prevent forgery of TIN certificates.
The tax administration had earlier found that 15 lakh out of 32 lakh TINs are inactive and fake.
The initiative requires the fresh TIN-seekers to provide personal information, including the national identity card number, mobile phone number and e-mail address, to get TINs online.
The existing TIN holders, too, will have to re-register by the yearend.
Companies seeking to re-register will submit their registration numbers they got from the Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms.
Rahela said the present 10-digit TINs would become invalid from next January.
She said people, who have found errors in their national ID cards, will have to get those corrected by the Election Commission before applying for TINs online.
Source: The Daily Star
