Bought, used but missing from tax files

More than 1,339 luxury cars were imported, used for years and even registered in Bangladesh are missing from their owners’ income tax records, according to an analysis by the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

The tax authority has ordered officials to cross-check Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) records with income tax files to identify undeclared assets and possible tax evasion.

NBR data show that around 5,489 high-value or luxury cars are registered in the country. Of these, about 2,719 have been declared in their owners’ tax records, while more than 1,339 are absent from the files.

The data was found by analysing information held by the NBR’s Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) and BRTA.

The cars include Toyota, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jeep, Land Rover, Audi, Range Rover, Porsche, Jaguar, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Cadillac, Maserati, Tesla, Ferrari and Lamborghini.

NBR officials believe many of these vehicles are worth between Tk 1 crore and Tk 10 crore or more.

The tax authority is now checking whether the owners regularly submit income tax returns and whether their declared income and assets are in line with the value of their cars.

If a person declares a relatively low income but owns a car worth several crores of taka, tax officials may examine how the vehicle was bought and where the money came from. They may also check whether the car was properly reported in the person’s tax return.

The CIC had earlier found 409 luxury car owners who had registered expensive vehicles with BRTA but could not be found in income tax records.

This means some people had registered high-value vehicles with the transport authority but were not found in the tax system.

The latest data has prompted the NBR to expand the use of information from other government agencies to identify people who may be outside the tax net.