A case was filed against Ujala Paints on allegations of evading Value Added Tax (VAT) and Supplementary Duty (SD) collected from customers on sales of paints and related products.

VAT Intelligence filed the case. The paint maker claimed sales of Tk 256 crore in its VAT returns submitted to the field office of VAT between April 2014 and August 2020. It paid Tk 51 crore VAT during the period, said VAT Audit, Intelligence & Investigation Directorate (VAIID) Director General Moinul Khan.

From the seized documents, the field office found that Ujala's total sale was Tk 403 crore. Information of Tk 147 crore sales had been concealed, said Khan.

Commercial documents were kept in the head office and VAT officials did not get the papers when they searched in the factory premises earlier, he said.

Discrepancies were found between information and VAT returns, said the official adding that a case has been filed under the VAT law against the paint factory on allegation of VAT evasion through concealment of information.

The VAIID said the amount of VAT dodging was Tk 12.51 crore. As five percent SD is applied on paints, the amount of SD evasion was Tk 4.27 crore, said Khan.

Besides, as per law, 2 percent interest is payable for failure to pay VAT timely, so the amount of interest stands at Tk 10.34 crore, he said.

In total, the amount stands at Tk 27 crore, according to VAIID.

This correspondent tried to reach Ujala Paints through the phone number on the company's website. No one responded to the phone call and text message until 9:20 pm today.

In another development, Pubali Bank Ltd paid nearly Tk 8 crore of unpaid VAT to the state coffer. The private bank deposited the indirect tax following a special audit by the VAIID, Khan said.

He said the field office found that Tk 7.9 crore VAT remained unpaid by the bank from 2017 to 2019.

Pubali Bank paid the money spontaneously yesterday after the claims raised by the VAT intelligence team, added Khan.

Managing Director & CEO of Pubali Bank Md Abdul Halim Chowdhury said during routine checkups they found some VAT remained to be paid.

They have since paid the tax, he added.