BANGLADESH

On the last day of filing income tax returns, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has extended the deadline by two weeks, according to a senior official.

"The NBR has extended the deadline for filing the income tax returns by two weeks to Oct 16," NBR member M A Quader Sarker told on Sunday.

The original deadline, which was Sep 30, was extended by one business day to Sunday following requests from business leaders.

The business community had been calling for an extension by a month, but the revenue chief had been firm against deferment of the deadline.

"We've received good response this time. But many said they could not file their tax returns. So the Board decided to extend the deadline," Quader Sarker said.

In line with the Income Tax Ordinance, individual taxpayers submit their returns until September-end every year but the cut-off time has been extended at the last minute following demands from various quarters.

Initially reluctant, the NBR had extended the time by a week last year and by one month in 2009.

According to the NBR, there are 2.6 million tax identification number (TIN) holders in the country, 0.9 million of whom pay income tax.

Some 815,000 taxpayers deposited Tk 170.87 billion by way of income tax during the 2009-10 fiscal. The government is hoping to receive Tk 210 billion in the current fiscal.

MASSIVE SUBMISSIONS ON SUNDAY

Sarker said primary estimations placed the number of tax return submissions on Sunday near 900,000, from which the government received more than Tk 10 billion in revenues.

Last year, there had been 800,000 submissions that fetched a revenue of Tk 8.98 billion.

He said the submission process would be made even easier next year.