Mohammad Nesar Uddin, Chief Financial Officer of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL), has recently been promoted to Executive Vice President (EVP), said a press release.

He joined IBBL at the Financial Administration Division as a Vice President in 2006.

Earlier, Nesar Uddin served ACNABIN Chartered Accountants as a Manager-Audit and Advisory. He also worked at Karnaphuli Fertilizer Company Ltd. (KAFCO) as Internal Auditor.

Nesar Uddin completed Masters in Accounting from Dhaka University in 1999.

He is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) and the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB). He visited Singapore, Malaysia and Switzerland for attending training and seminars. New EVP also completed ‘Train the Trainers (ToT) course on International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS)’ in the UK as a nominee of the Bangladesh Government.

The Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ 12th May 2012

Vinesh Venugopal Nair, Vice President, Global Marketing and Communication of Xpress Money Services Ltd and KS Tabrez, Managing Director of DBBL, seen at an inauguration of DBBL mobile banking services in Dhaka.

Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) and Xpress Money Services Limited jointly launched the remittance channeling through DBBL Mobile Banking Services.

Vinesh Venugopal Nair, Vice President, Global Marketing and Communication of Xpress Money Services Ltd and K. S. Tabrez, Managing Director of DBBL, formally inaugurated the service at the bank’s head office in Dhaka Thursday, said a press release.

The service will make the wage earners in abroad able to remit their money to DBBL Mobile Banking Accounts from Xpress Money services.

Upon receipt of money in their mobile accounts, the beneficiaries will be able to withdraw cash from any nearby agent, DBBL branches and ATMs, transfer money to their relatives' mobile account, buy goods and services from a retailer and pay utility bills.

The Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ 12th May 2012

Participants at National Bank Limited’s training programme on ‘Environmental Risk Management: Concept, Policy and Case Study’ are seen in the photo.

National Bank Training Institute (NBTI) organised a day-long training programme on ‘Envir- onm- ental Risk Management: Concept, Policy and Case Study” in the city recently for executives of the Bank.

The training was organised under the Bank’s executive development program (EDP), says a press release.

Neaz Ahmed, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of National Bank Limited inaugurated the training course as the chief guest.

A total of 37 executives including 30 branch managers attended the training programme.

The Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ 12th May 2012

National Board of Revenue (NBR) plans to take tougher steps to check under-invoicing in imports of luxury items such as auto and refrigerator aimed at raising annual revenue, officials said.

Under invoicing is a means of tax evasion where actual price of an imported product is kept undisclosed and this malpractice occurs in the absence of effective measures.

“We have intensified our vigilance so that none can dodge tax submitting false documents,” ASM Zakir Hossain, Superintendent of Department of Customs Intelligence and Investigation of Chittagong , told BSS.

Hossain said the imported items are now inspected applying two methods - acting on tip off and risk management.
About the large scale import of luxury items including refrigerator ahead of the upcoming budget, he said the customs house is not in a position to deter traders from importing goods in large volume under the import policy (2009-12).

But, he said, ‘we can keep watch whether an importer declares import consignment accurately and gives revenue in right amount for the import.’

The Chittagong port and Customs have jointly undertaken a step to keep the delivery of goods open for 24 hours and even at the weekend so importers do not incur loss, he added.

Sources in the Customs Houses said refrigerator importers pay a fixed amount of duty to the government but for the parts of the items they pay half of the duty payable.

Explaining they said , total tax incidence (TTI) stood at 104.83 per cent for refrigerator import while the TTI is 58.58 per cent for spare parts.

Capitalizing the concession, a section of traders import refrigerator submitting declaration that they are importing spares.

“The NBR has launched a special vigilance to bring down the rate of under invoicing. If any importer is found guilty of the offence, necessary action would be taken against them,” said an official of NBR.

Industry people favoured reduction in the import duty and inclusion of policy of protectionism in the upcoming budget to help grow local refrigerator industry.

Dr Mojibur Rahman, Chairman of Bangladesh Tariff Commission (BTC) said they have found several allegations of importing sub- standard goods submitting false document.

“We are collecting facts on the allegations and necessary steps would be taken as per the law,” he added.

The Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ 12th May 2012

The first ever online tax payment service is going to start on 26 May, with the slogan ‘Pay online, anytime anywhere.’
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the online tax payment system.

A tripartite agreement will be signed this week between NBR, Sonali Bank and Information Technology Consultant Limited (ITCL), a wing of Q-cash, said the tax officials at an introductory meeting of the online tax payment at a city hotel Wednesday.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is going to introduce the e-payment system in a bid to facilitate taxpayers to pay taxes, including income tax, VAT and customs duty online from any part of the world any time.

NBR, Bangladesh Bank, Sonali Bank and Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh will jointly coordinate the system while Q-cash will be processor of the whole system to deposit the money from account of taxpayers to public exchequer.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is financing the launching of online tax payment and tax return system in line with NBR’s goal to digitise the entire revenue collection process to put an end to hassles of the taxpayers.

Tax payers won’t need to pay any additional cost for the service, the officials said. They won’t need to stand in a long queue once the e-payment system is introduced, they added.

In this regard, a total of 26 banks have been selected for online tax payment.
The banks include Bank Asia, Basic Bank, Bangladesh Commerce Bank, Eastern Bank, IFIC Bank, ICB Islamic Bank, Janata Bank, Jamuna Bank, Mercantile Bank and Mutual Trust Bank.

The other banks are National Bank, NCC Bank, Pubali Bank, Shahjalal Islami Bank, Social Islami Bank, Standard Bank, State Bank of India and The City Bank.

Trust Bank, Uttara Bank, Exim Bank, Citibank NA, Dhaka Bank, Southeast Bank, United Commercial Bank and Brac Bank are also in the selection list.

Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC and Dutch-Bangla Bank will be included in the process within a short time, the sources said.

Large taxpayers, both individual and corporate, will come under the e-payment of tax in the first phase, sources said, adding that they would be able to pay tax through debit, credit or VISA card.

Earlier, NBR introduced online tax return system in July 2009, for large taxpayers -- both individual and corporate in different zones.

But, the online tax return submission was not so popular among the taxpayers due to absence of e-payment facilities. Only a handful of taxpayers availed the facilities of online tax return submission.

Once the system is successfully implemented, revenue collection will increase substantially by curbing anomalies and checking evasion of tax, NBR officials hoped.

The Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ 12th May 2012