Tax-Ombudsman in Bangladesh: An Analytical Review of the Regulatory Framework

Abstract

This paper provides an analytical examination of the regulatory framework of the Tax-Ombudsman in Bangladesh. The concerned statute has been enacted hastily to appoint a Tax-Ombudsman with a view to ascertaining bad governance committed by tax officials/employees engaged in the implementation of tax-related laws and conducting investigations thereon and undertaking preventive or corrective actions relating to those. It is yet to wait a long to see the effective implementation of the Act. Due to some provisions of the Act (e.g., little financial independence, various regulatory constraints and generous counter-effective measures), the Tax-Ombudsman may find difficulty to run his office effectively and efficiently, but he is also given a statutory challenge to fight against fiscal corruption. The Act has been given the supremacy over other Acts and no question can be raised in any court regarding the validity of any action, order or instruction given under the Act and the Act has also the indemnity provision for actions to be taken by the Tax-Ombudsman. However, time-lag in implementation of the Act should be reduced as hurriedly as it was passed in the Parliament.

Keywords: Ombudsman, Tax-Ombudsman, Fiscal corruption