24 firms sued for evading VAT at Dhaka trade fair

Customs, Excise & VAT Commissionerate has sued 24 reputed organisations for not paying VAT on sales in this year's Dhaka International Trade Fair.

A team of the Commissionerate of Dhaka West Zone visited the trade fair premises at Dhaka's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar yesterday and found irregularities in the stalls of these organisations, Moinul Khan, commissioner of Customs and VAT (Dhaka West Zone), told The Daily Star.

One of the companies was found to have paid only Tk 15,000 VAT when it was supposed to pay Tk 4 lakh in a day, the commissioner said. Some of the stalls were found collecting VAT from the buyers but not submitting those to the authorities, the commissioner said adding that some were not providing VAT invoice to the customers, he added.

Cases have been filed under the VAT Act, the commissioner said. "If found guilty, the organisations may be fined up to Tk 50,000 along with the amount evaded."

Apart from these, the commissionerate is investigating six other organisations for irregularities in the annual showcase.