CHATTOGRAM, April 17, 2020 (BSS) – Chattogram VAT office realized Taka 952 crore as value added tax (VAT) from the businessmen here in March this year.
VAT Commissioner Mohammad Enamul Haque told BSS that a total of 5,200 businessmen deposited the money manually and online payment from April 12 to 15 during the public holiday.
He said that the government kept VAT offices open from April 12 to 15 for three hours to submit the VAT return for March.
“The target of VAT office was to realize Tk 1100 crore from 15000 VAT registered businessmen in Chattogram only for March. The rest businessmen who did not pay their respective VAT will be fined,” he said.
However, the business leaders demanded to the authority for waiving their fine and gave them incentive considering the coronavirus situation as national disaster, he added.
Talking to BSS, President of Chattogram Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mahbubul Alam said t the government has declared long holidays for maintaining social distance to prevent global pandemic coronavirus.
“As a result, most of the shops, businesses establishments and factories are closed. The traders have no cash flow in their hands, the banks are open for only a few hours. In this situation, businessmen could not pay VAT properly due to the disaster,” he said.