The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has decided to sell EFD and SDC machines as the organization will not distribute the VAT collection machines for free of cost, said officials concerned.
NBR’s public relation officer Syed A Momen confirmed this to the Bangladesh Post.
According to the new guidelines of NBR, traders have to purchase these machines directly or in installments. In this case, the selling price of Electronic Fiscal Device (EFD) is Tk 20533 and the Sales Data Controller (SDC) is Tk 24596.
“Traders can buy two machines at once or in installments. Although they have the facility to buy the devices in three installments but they will not have to pay extra price. And if any fault is found in the machine, the officer in charge of the concerned area will take care of them,” said Momen.
NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md. Rahmatul Muneem inaugurated EFD on August 25, 2019 to ensure transparency and accountability in VAT collection. NBR has installed EFDs in 3,393 businesses, according to the NBR.
EFD or SDC is a modern accounting machine. This is an improved version of the Electronic Cash Register (ECR). NBR is able to know the actual transaction or sale information of the organization through this device. As a result, VAT evasion will stop and collection will increase. The EFD machine will be connected to the NBR server through software to monitor the daily transaction information of the business organizations. The server has already been set up for this purpose.
The NBR has been giving away prizes every month through lottery to encourage buyers to accept EFD invoices. The first lottery draw for EFD invoices was held on February 5. The lottery draw has been held for ninth time so far.
In the lottery, the first prize is Tk 1 lakh, second prize is Tk 50,000 and third prize is Tk 25,000. Besides, 94 VAT donors will get a prize of Tk 10,000 in the lottery.
When the VAT Act was introduced in 2019, NBR announced the distribution of one lakh free EFD machines among traders. The installation of the EFD machine started in August 2020. However, in the last few months, the machine has been installed in only 3,393 VAT registered institutions in Dhaka and Chittagong. If EFD or SDC instrument is not used, the NBR can be taken action as per law.
