Top taxpayers honoured

The government on Thursday last honoured top taxpayers at the national level for depositing the highest amount of taxes to the state coffers in fiscal 2015-16.

Some 141 taxpayers, including 76 individuals, were given tax cards and crests as recognition for their exemplary compliance.

Separately, the NBR awarded 370 highest taxpayers at the district level and 147 long-time taxpayers for their compliance in Dhaka and other divisional cities.

Since fiscal 2010-11, tax cards were given in only two categories -- individuals and companies -- with 10 tax cards for each to encourage compliance in the country where less than 1pc of the population file returns and tax avoidance is believed to be high. 

As the total number of tax cards was restricted to 20, many taxpayers were left out of the honour despite paying sizeable sums regularly.

This year, the NBR awarded top taxpayers in 18 categories for individuals, 14 categories for companies and four categories for firms and other taxpayers at the national level.

Standard Chartered Bangladesh's acting CEO Naser Ezaz Bijoy receives an award from Finance Minister AMA Muhith as the bank was honoured as a top taxpayer. 

“Income tax payment is a matter of heroism,” said Muhith at the programme in Dhaka, adding that the person who pays tax plays a role in national development.

The NBR has set a target to collect more than half of its total tax revenue from income tax by fiscal 2020-21.