NBR to outsource maintenance services

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is going to outsource from the private sector maintenance services for electronic fiscal devices (EFD).

This is aimed at ensuring proper monitoring of the machines once installed at retail and wholesale stores, thereby ensuring collection of all the value added tax (VAT) consumers pay during purchase of goods and services.

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The revenue authority already called for bids from firms to install EFDs at three VAT Commissionerates -- Dhaka (West), Dhaka (East) and Chattogram – and monitor and maintain the machines for 10 years.

Firms will have to have a minimum of five years' experience in human resource management in public agencies or similar experience in ICT equipment and software development, according to the NBR's tender notice.

"It is not possible for the NBR to collect VAT by installing millions of machines across the country, so we have taken this initiative to outsource EFD services," said NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem.

He was addressing a lottery draw of purchase receipts issued to customers by retails through the EFDs to award prizes and encourage customers to seek receipts.

He said with the current manpower of the NBR, it can cover around one-third of the VAT area. "We cannot cover all the places to ensure proper collection of VAT from the retails," he said.

It will bring good pace in retail VAT collection if electronic fiscal device (EFD) machines could be spread across the country through the outsourcing process, he said at the event at the NBR headquarters.

The move comes more than one year after the NBR began to install the much-talked-about electronic cash registers to fight VAT dodging, in August 2020 at the retails, mainly in Dhaka, for free after purchasing the devices using taxpayers' money.

The revenue authority initially planned to install 10,000 EFDs and Sales Data Controllers (SDC) by June 2021 under the initiative.

It decided to expand the coverage gradually so that the state gets actual receipts of VAT, evasion of which is alleged to be rampant, particularly at retails.

It also launched a lottery to encourage consumers to ask for receipts of purchases issued by the EFDs.

Until now, the NBR could install nearly 3,500 EFDs, use of which is mandatory for 25 types of businesses, including shops, hotels, restaurants, sweet stores, clothing, furniture and electronics outlets and jewellers.

As per the latest plan to outsource the EFD, SDC and EFD management systems, the NBR would accepts bids from interested firms until January 16, 2022, according to the tender notice.