The NBR Reform Unity Council, a platform of the NBR officials who have been protesting against an ordinance that splits the revenue board into two divisions, on Wednesday said that it would hold a ‘March to NBR’ programme on June 28.
At a press conference held in the capital Dhaka, the platform said that the NBR officials would continue their protest programmes as they were not invited to take part in today’s meeting called by the finance adviser.
Finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed will hold a meeting with tax officials today to resolve differences over the splitting of the revenue board.
The finance ministry on Wednesday urged all officials and employees of the NBR to suspend their ongoing protest programme and concentrate on revenue collection, said a press release issued by the ministry.
Salehuddin also requested the representatives from the officials of the Bangladesh Civil Service (Taxation) and the Bangladesh Civil Service (Customs and Excise) to sit with him at 5:00pm today to resolve differences over the creation of Revenue Policy Division and Revenue Management Division by splitting the NBR.
The interim government has recently promulgated ‘Revenue Policy and Revenue Management Ordnance 2025’ to split the NBR into the two entities.
The finance adviser on Wednesday also expressed concerned over the ongoing sit-in and pen-down programmes by the NBR officials demanding amendments to the ordinance at the NBR headquarters in Dhaka and its local offices across the country.
He said that the businesses who had enjoyed various facilities during the past Awami League regime were fanning the NBR officials to run the programmes and disrupt the revenue collection at the fag end of the financial year.
He was talking to reporters after a meeting of the advisory council on government purchase at the secretariat in the capital Dhaka.
The NBR is trailing the revised revenue target of Tk 4,63,000 crore from original Tk 4,80,000 crore in the outgoing financial year of 2024-25, with the collection of Tk 3,21,000 crore in the eleven months from July 2024 to May 2025.
The overall revenue shortfall is expected to be Tk 1,00,000 crore in the outgoing FY25.
Calling the protest programme that has begun since June 22 under the NBR Reform Unity Council rare, the finance adviser said that it was affecting exports and import, and port activities.
On May 12, the ordinance was promulgated to create the divisions under the finance ministry by dissolving the NBR.
Demanding cancellation of the ordinance the NBR Reform Unity Council has been running the protest.
On May 20, the finance adviser in a meeting with NBR officials assured them of bringing about amendments to the ordinance.      Â
On May 25, the finance ministry’s commitment of amending the ordinance by July 31 had led the NBR Reform Unity Council to suspend the sit-in and pen-down programme.
While creating the new divisions as part of a reform in the country’s revenuer sector, the interim government said it aimed at improving efficiency, reducing conflicts of interest, and broadening the country’s tax base.
