EU hopes for rise in Bangladesh's online tax return submission

Michal Krejza, head of cooperation, delegation of the European Union (EU) here today hoped that online tax return submission may increase to 1.5 million from 0.5 million in Bangladesh this year.

"We hope that the number of people using this service center (funded by EU) and the number of people submitting electronic tax returns will rise quickly," he said.

Krejza said this at the official launching of the new e-Return Service Centre at the NBR Bhaban in the capital's Agargaon area this morning.

The Service Centre, which is operated by NBR officials trained in Service centre and e-Return system intricacies, is funded by the European Union (EU) as part of their Public Financial Management Programme.

Md Abdur Rahman Khan, Chairman of NBR, and Michal Krejza formally opened this new service center.

Krejza said last year the number of e-return submission was about half of a million which was actually very low for a big country like Bangladesh. 

"But, in this year, it will reach one million to one and a half million which would be a tremendous increase," he said.

The new Service Centre is dedicated to supporting taxpayers in the use of the e-Return tax submission system and key part of NBR's mission to make it easier for taxpayers to submit their tax returns.

Krejza also said that the EU has been supporting the country for many years, adding: "Now you see a particularly important window of opportunity of reforms,"

He went on saying, "We're very happy that the NBR Chairman has very good ideas on how to drive reforms in NBR and obviously these reforms are absolutely fundamental for further development of Bangladesh, because it is through NBR that the money comes to finance reforms".

Regarding the service center, he said they have been financing it now for two to three years while they were happy that it has moved into the new building of NBR as it was somewhere else until now. "It is now much easier for the center to operate...So, keep up this good cooperation," he added.

Senior officials of NBR were also present in the event.

The e-Return website (etaxnbr.gov.bd) contains a detailed help facility as well as a user manual and frequently asked questions.

For further assistance, the Service centre can be reached dialing 09643717171 on weekdays from 09:00-17:00. A ticketing function is accessible from within the 'Contact' section of e-Return system, where taxpayers can report a problem or lodge a query related to the system (https://ticket.etaxnbr.gov.bd/).