Dhaka: Finance Minister AMA Muhith today inaugurated the online VAT registration formally expressing the hope that the people would now pay Value Added Tax (VAT) online for the development of the country.

‘Online VAT registration began formally from today and I hope the people will now pay VAT online,’ the finance minister said at the inaugural ceremony held at the NBR Bhaban in Agargaon, reports BSS.

National Board of Revenue (NBR Chairman Md Nojibur Rahman presided over the ceremony while commerce minister Tofail Ahmed, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on finance ministry Dr Abdur Razzque, state minister for finance and planning MA Mannan, FBCCI vice-president Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin and MCCI president Nihad Kabir were, among others, attended it.

Speaking on the occasion Tofail Ahmed thanked the finance ministry and NBR for introducing online VAT registration and said the implementation of Digital Bangladesh as dreamt by the Prime Minister has made a significant progress with the launching of online VAT registration.

NBR started the online VAT registration on March 15 informally. Businesses will be able to take online VAT registration up to July 1.

Earlier, the NBR gave 425 businesses under Large Taxpayer Unit (LTU) scope to be registered online as it gets almost 80 per cent of its total VAT-revenue from these 425 enterprises

After the formal inauguration, NBR will now launch a campaign across the country to encourage businesses to take online registration. Business activities of those enterprises which will fail to be registered within July 1 will be shut down automatically.

‘Online VAT registration software has been installed in such a way that activities of the business entities which will not take online registration within July 1 will automatically be shut down,’ deputy director of the online VAT project of NBR Zakir Hossain told BSS earlier.

‘We have requested the business establishments take online VAT registration because the new VAT law will be effective from July 1 and business establishments will have to submit returns, pay tax and carryout other business related activities online,’ said Hossain.

Business organizations will have to take electronic Business Identification Number (e-BIN) and businesspeople who are running businesses with registration under traditional system will have to register their organizations online again.

But the business establishments having annual turnover below Tk 30 lakh do not need to be registered online.

Under the new VAT law NBR will give the only one registration number (9 digits) centrally for all business entities of a group, Hossain added.

‘We have taken such steps to bring transparency in businesses,’ he said.

At present, the number of business organizations having VAT registration is about 8.5 lakh and of them, 32,000 submit returns.