NBR freezes Robi-Axiata’s bank account over tax evasion

National Board of Revenue (NBR) today froze the bank account of mobile operator Robi-Axiata for three working days on allegation of evasion of over Tk 18.72 crore as value added tax (VAT) and supplementary duties.

A team of NBR visited Robi’s corporate office in Dhaka’s Gulshan on February 7 and collected documents including its trial balance for the month of December 2017, summary of site and space rental (July-December, 2017), summary of SIM sales (October 2017-January 2018) and summary of invoice to BTCL (PSTN) (January-December 2017) .

Analysing the documents, NBR found that the company deprived the government of Tk 18, 72, 88, 032.70 as unpaid value-added tax and supplementary duties, according to a press release of NBR.

NBR authorities, therefore, directed the banks to freeze the accounts of Robi-Axiata for three working days under section 26 (4) of the VAT Act 1991, the release read, adding that legal steps will be taken against the company in this regard.