The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has taken a tough stance to recover unpaid supplementary duty and VAT dues of Tk 2023.24 crore from multinational tobacco manufacturer British American Tobacco Bangladesh Limited (BATB).
The agency is considering this as the highest priority among the high-profile revenue cases with outstanding dues of over Tk 500 crore. To expedite the recovery of this huge amount of arrears by overcoming legal complications, the Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU-VAT) of the NBR has taken the initiative to quickly dispose of the writ case filed by BATB in the High Court Division. To this end, LTU-VAT has already written a letter to the Attorney General requesting him to take necessary legal measures for an early hearing.
Background and Administrative Procedure:
Initiation and Withdrawal: The claim raised by the NBR against VAT and customs evasion of 2016 was suddenly withdrawn on June 17, 2021 under Section 55(3) of the Value Added Tax Act, 1991. Questionable Process and Investigation: Doubts and questions arose over the decision to withdraw such a huge amount of revenue claim. Later, a high-level review committee was formed to examine whether the legal justification and process for withdrawing this claim were proper or not. Recall: The continuous review by the formed committee showed that the withdrawal was not beyond question. As a result, on August 29, 2023, the NBR sent a notice to BATB to appear for re-examination and hearing.