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A glaring mismatch persists between the number of registered companies in Bangladesh and those actually submitting corporate income-tax returns, official data show.

While over 0.3 million companies are registered with the government, only around 40,000 file tax returns annually. According to AKM Nurunnabi Kabir, Registrar of the Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC), about 0.1 million companies are currently active, submitting audited financial statements and board-of-directors lists.

National Board of Revenue (NBR) statistics indicate that 39,659 corporate-tax returns were submitted in FY 2024-25, marking a 4.0 percent year-on-year increase. The figure stood at 38,130 in FY 2023-24 and 33,905 in FY 2022-23. Corporate taxes remain a major source of domestic government revenue.

Existing taxpayers, however, allege that they face annual scrutiny and harassment, while the authorities pay little attention to expanding the tax net to collect revenue from potential taxpayers, which would help distribute the burden more fairly. Previous attempts to reconcile RJSC and NBR data have yielded limited results, and no comprehensive gap analysis has been conducted by the government.

In 2020, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) introduced the Document Verification System (DVS) to curb forgery in company financial statements. Under a Memorandum of Understanding with the NBR, no tax official is allowed to accept audited statements without a verification code issued by ICAB.

ICAB President NKA Mobin said that 58,000 companies have obtained DVCs for tax-return submission, yet many still fail to file returns. “I have no idea why they are not filing,” he said, stressing the need for at least annual reconciliation to prevent revenue loss.

NBR Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan noted that while corporate-tax returns are not increasing, reconciling with RJSC or ICAB data may not produce immediate results. Some companies are registered as individual taxpayers, and certain ICAB-audited entities are not obligated to file corporate tax returns.

RJSC Registrar Kabir added that only 100,000 of the registered companies are functional. “We are trying to remove defunct companies every month, but many resist delisting as they hope to resume operations,” he said, noting that some listed companies have yet to start operations. RJSC penalizes companies that fail to submit annual audited statements and board-of-directors lists.

Financial Reporting Council (FRC) Chairman Md Sajjad Hossain Bhuiyan said the council will write to RJSC to verify how many companies are filing returns. “We aim to review the gap between RJSC-registered companies and tax returns, and find ways to bridge it,” he said, acknowledging that the council was previously inactive in monitoring corporate reporting compliance.

The NBR chairman added that the number of individual taxpayers has grown due to efforts to widen the tax net. Tax laws require all companies to submit annual returns, irrespective of profit or loss, including turnover taxes for loss-making firms.

He also highlighted operational inefficiencies as a reason for the poor tax base, noting that company dissolution remains costly and time-consuming. ICAB President Mobin added that without DVCs, it is difficult to assess non-compliance in loans or tax filings. “At least 58,000 corporate-tax returns must be submitted to the NBR, as they have obtained DVCs for this purpose,” he said.