NBR Navigates New Norms: Digital Drives and Demand for Duty Discipline

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has digitally selected 15,400 files for audit through a randomized process to ensure impartiality and transparency in revenue collection. The initiative, part of NBR’s emphasis on automation, was disclosed by the organization’s chairman, Md. Abdur Rahman Khan.

Highlighting the importance of increased machine usage in revenue collection, the NBR chairman remarked, “There are many software and data collection agencies through which it is very easy to know the price of any product in the international market.” He explained that banks, when opening Letters of Credit (LCs), can verify the LC price against global market prices. However, failures in regulation by banks and customs departments have resulted in issues of over-invoicing and under-invoicing. To prevent under-invoicing, NBR sets minimum tariff values, but this sometimes adversely affects honest taxpayers.

Md. Khan expressed confidence that under- and over-invoicing in imports and exports can be controlled, calling the past inability to do so a collective failure of banks and customs. Speaking at a ‘Shadow Parliament’ session on ‘Tax System Reform’ organized by Debate for Democracy at the Film Development Corporation (FDC) in Kawran Bazar on 26 July, he stated, “In today’s era, the price of products anywhere in the world can be known at the push of a button. Banks and customs can verify this during the LC opening process.” He further warned that if products are not imported or exported at their true value, compliant businesses and genuine taxpayers suffer losses.

The chairman added, “We have initiated efforts to amend tax laws. The government will no longer be able to grant tax exemptions arbitrarily. Only Parliament, through the Finance Bill, can consider tax exemption matters in the national interest. Failure to control under- and over-invoicing in import and export is a collective failure on our part.”

On revenue reform, he emphasized that merely creating separate departments for revenue policy and management would not increase revenue collection. “Efficiency and transparency must be ensured in tax administration,” he said, noting that reform committees alone cannot deliver results unless their recommendations are implemented. “NBR lacks in policy implementation,” he admitted.

Md. Khan further stated, “Without political will, establishing good governance in tax administration is difficult. Now, because we receive full autonomy from the chief advisor and policymakers, bold decisions are possible.”

Regarding automation, the chairman said, “Recently, we digitally selected 15,400 files for audit through a random process. NBR is now focusing on automation. Over 500,000 applicants have received services in less than an hour by applying online through Bangladesh National Single Window. Last year, 1.712 million Taxpayer Identification Number holders submitted returns online. This year, online return submission will be mandatory for all.”

The debate event, moderated by Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiran, chairman of Debate for Democracy, saw the government team represented by Green University of Bangladesh and the opposition by Chittagong Maa-O-Shishu Hospital Medical College. The government team won the judges’ decision.

In his closing remarks, Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiran noted that opposition to splitting NBR into tax policy and tax administration wings had subsided, and he hoped the government would consider the reasonable demands of revenue department employees. “With collective efforts, dividing NBR into two parts will yield benefits,” he said.

He also acknowledged concerns among revenue officials fearing loss of privileges and increased administrative dominance if NBR is divided. “To alleviate these fears, the proposed organogram of the two divisions should be shared. Moreover, revenue collection will not improve if weaknesses, inequality, corruption, and injustice persist in the tax system,” he warned. Allegations continue that most taxpayers—from ordinary to high-income—face harassment by tax collectors.

This comprehensive discussion underscores the NBR’s ongoing commitment to enhancing revenue collection through digital innovation, transparency, legal reform, and institutional restructuring.