More than two dozens of travel agents have dodged tax by concealing incomes, according to an investigation by the National Board of Revenue.
Twenty-seven travel agents have not shown in their tax returns the incentive bonus and other commission they get from airlines and the service providers of Global Distribution System (GDS), taxmen said.
GDS is worldwide computerised reservation network used as a single point of access for reserving airline seats, hotel rooms, rental cars, and other travel related items by travel agents, online reservation sites, and large corporations.
"We have already realised a portion of the tax dodged by these travel agents," an NBR official said, asking not to be named.
The tax authority has not yet calculated the actual amount of tax evaded by these firms. But the amount in a rough estimate would be Tk 50 crore, according to taxmen.
The NBR unearthed the anomalies after its Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) looked into tax files of a couple of travel agents.
The CIC found that these firms concealed incentive bonuses that they got from airlines for achieving ticket selling targets.
The agents also get commission from GDS service providers against sales of air tickets.
The $440-million annual aviation market of Bangladesh, involving 5.8 million passengers, generates quite a handsome amount of commission and incentive bonus, industry insiders said.
Though Bangladesh has around 2,400 travel agents, only 20-25 of them enjoy the lion's share of the commission and incentives through a nexus with a section of airline officials, a travel agent said.
As a result, travellers have to buy tickets by paying an extra amount when the demand for tickets for certain destinations or purposes, such as hajj, goes up.
In many cases, a section of travel agents offer tickets below the fares set by carriers, he said. Such a practice ultimately affects carriers' revenue and encourages price competition among travel agencies.
"We were unaware of such transactions before the investigation," the tax official said.
The CIC also found that these 27 travel agents have been concealing their incentive bonuses for at least six years and asked them to pay the tax along with penalties.
In a recent letter, these travel agents apologised to the NBR and asked for withdrawing the penalties.
The agents claimed they share the incentive bonuses with their sub-agents to expand business. They said the commission that they get from GDS service providers is used for maintenance of computers and other IT equipment.
SN Manzur Murshed, president of Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB), said travel agents were unaware that the incentives would be treated as income.
He said travel agents get 7 percent commission from airlines. "We have to share a portion of the amount with our sub-agents and sometimes give away the commission to retain clients.”

However, from the current fiscal year, the NBR imposes 3 percent withholding tax on travel agents' income as commission, discount and incentive bonus, in a bid to curb tax evasion, taxmen said.
Airlines and their general sales agents will have to deduct the tax during such payments to travel agents and deposit the money to the state coffer, according to the NBR.
The NBR received Tk 640 crore as travel tax in fiscal 2013-14, up 9 percent from the previous year.