The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is likely to launch an e-payment system by the end of the month to ease hassles of taxpayers by gradually replacing the manual tax payment system.

Taxpayers including companies, will be able to pay income tax, value added tax and customs duties online after the launch of the electronic payment system, said an official of the NBR yesterday.

But initially, the taxpayers having accounts with banks that share Q cash ATM (automated teller machine) networks will get the scope to pay taxes online.

Two state-run banks, Sonali and Janata, as well as 24 private banks  are in the Q cash network.

Other banks that issue Visa debit or credit cards will also come gradually under the e-payment system, said Kanon Kumar Roy, e-governance focal point officer of the NBR.

"Individual taxpayers and businesses will be able to pay tax online using debit or credit cards or bank accounts for any year. Taxes can be paid anytime from anywhere," he said.

Companies will require to log on to the NBR website and register by using their tax identification number or business identification number, said Roy, also the director general of Directorate of Inspection (taxes) under the NBR.

To finally pay online, the taxpayers will have to use their debit or credit card numbers and personal identification number. After completion of these procedures, the taxpayers will get acknowledgement receipts with bar codes.

Roy said these acknowledgement receipts will be treated as approved, allowing the taxpayers to show these printed copies of these receipts or the bar codes at the time of submission of tax returns.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the e-payment system.

The e-payment system comes in line with the NBR goal of automating the entire revenue collection process to ease hassles of the taxpayers and boost revenue collection by curbing pilferage and anomalies.

Currently, the taxpayers have to pay taxes through treasury chalan (voucher) or pay orders to deposit taxes to the state exchequer through Sonali Bank.

It causes hassles to the taxpayers as they have to stand for long in queues to deposit money and get receipt of payments.

The existing system also has some flaws. Sometimes taxpayers, who complete tax payment related formalities, find that their taxes are not deposited because of misappropriation of fund by middlemen through forgery of documents, insiders said.

In case of pay orders, the taxpayers need to go to the concerned tax office to get receipt of payments. And field-level staffs of tax need to submit these pay orders to treasury for confirmation of tax payment.

But in many cases, the staffs do not submit the pay orders deliberately to get bribe from the taxpayers. It creates uncertainty for the taxpayers, they added.

Roy said e-payment will ease these hassles.

The method will also enable higher authorities to be informed about the latest revenue collection situation, he added.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 9th May 2012