NBR targets 500 bank accounts

The tax intelligence has targeted 500 bank accounts through which tuition fees have been sent to students studying abroad.

It has already collected information on 50,000 accounts from five banks to scrutinise whether the parents or guardians have shown the expenditures in their tax files.

"We have already started the process to collect account information from a few more banks," said a top tax official.

The newly-formed Tax Intelligence and Investigation wing of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) launched the move after suspecting a huge tax evasion through money laundering using the sensitive transaction mode.

A senior tax intelligence official said it is an untapped area where tax evaders remain in a comfort zone.

"We do not want to create panic among parents or guardians. We felt the necessity to give a message to the well-off section to mention the expenditures in tax files properly in line with the income tax law," he said.

When asked about the latest development on detecting a large sum laundered through tuition fees, he said Tk 4.0 billion is an initial finding in some of the students' accounts.

Sending tuition fees is a popular way for many tycoons to siphon money, he said.

Declining to disclose the names of the five banks from which account information has been collected, the tax official said the revelation may erode depositors' confidence in those institutions.

"We have collected a huge volume of account information directly from banks after we found such data is not available at the Bangladesh Bank (BB)," he said.

The tax intelligence wing has tried to get the information from the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), but it was not available there, he noted.

"If we find that any of the expenditures has not been shown in the tax file, the entire amount of semester fees would be considered the income of the particular taxpayers," the official added.

Taxmen suspect that most of the tuition fees have not been shown in the tax files of the parents or guardians.

"We will focus on the accounts from where only a large sum of tuition fees has been transferred," the tax official further said.

For example, the tax intelligence would work on the top 50 tax files in the first phase and the next 50 in the second one, he explained.

A senior BFIU official said the central bank dashboard usually keeps the data on students' semester fee payments upon reporting by banks.

"If banks do not report such transactions to BB, those would not be available in the database," he added.

For example, Sikder Group owner's sons have laundered money, which National Bank did not report to BB, he added.

Meanwhile, the number of Bangladeshi students studying abroad is increasing fast every year. The major destinations include the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Germany, Japan, India, and Malaysia.

Data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) reveals around 52,799 Bangladeshis went abroad to study in 2023, with the highest number (8,524) going to the US.

Besides, 6,586 students went to the UK, 5,835 to Canada, 5,714 to Malaysia, 5,046 to Germany, 4,987 to Australia, 2,082 to Japan, 2,606 to India, 1,202 to South Korea, and 1,190 to Saudi Arabia.

In 2022, a total of 49,151 Bangladeshi students went abroad, up from 44,338 in 2021.

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