Revenue income from individual taxpayers rose by 50 percent in the current fiscal year. However, only 37 percent of the total individual taxpayers with Tax Identification Number (TIN) submitted tax returns.

National Revenue Board (NBR) is also going to conduct a special survey in big cities as the number of tax returns has declined.

October 31 was the last date for submitting income tax returns in the current fiscal year. An NBR source said 5.27 lakh individual taxpayers submitted returns in the general category while 1.52 lakh submitted in selfassessment category. The total revenue earning from these two categories stood at Tk 228.14 crore.

Last year, 5.38 lakh individual taxpayers submitted returns in the general category while 1.25 lakh in self-assessment. The total revenue earning from these two categories reached Tk 152.44 crore.

The NBR sources said the number of tax returns will rise as there are some 31,000 pending applications seeking more time to pay tax.

Now, the number of total taxpayers with TIN is around 17 lakh. About 63 percent taxpayers have not yet submitted returns. The NBR source said many take TIN for different purposes but provide fake addresses. Later they cannot be tracked.

The NBR is going to conduct a

special survey with the help of school and college students. The survey will be conducted primarily in Dhaka and Chittagong. A high official in the NBR said they are going to send a proposal to the finance ministry seeking money for the purpose.

The NBR sources also said until October around Tk 100 crore was whitened and some Tk 7.5 crore tax was earned.

As the provision to whiten black money will go from next financial year, the NBR is getting good response from the black money owners, said sources. However the businessmen who are involved in politics are largely utilising this opportunity.