Tk10.5cr tax dodge case filed against Shumi’s Hot Cake

The VAT Intelligence Department of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) says the country's prominent bakery, Shumi's Hot Cake, did not pay Tk10.5 crore in value added tax (VAT), hiding actual sales information.

The VAT Intelligence Department has also filed a case against them under the VAT Act after raiding the company's Tongi factory, and scrutinising their documents.

Dr Moinul Khan, Director General of VAT Intelligence, Investigation and Audit, said that on 2 June, a VAT Intelligence team raided the head office of Shumi's Hot Cake in Turag, Tongi, on the basis of specific VAT evasion allegations.

He said, during the raid, the team found cakes were being produced on machines, although the company claims to produce handmade cakes. A 15% VAT is applicable on machine made cakes, but VAT on handmade cake is 5%. This way they have been evading 10% VAT for a long time.

According to the case statement, the company has produced machine made cakes worth Tk26.90 crore from July 2019 to April 2021. A Tk4.03 crore VAT is applicable at  a15% rate on based on such pricing.

Moreover, the company showed Tk25.85 crore in sales between July 2016 and June 2019. But according to seized company documents, their actual sales revenue at the time was Tk55.55 crore. For that period, the company evaded Tk4.44 crore in VAT. The company has evade VAT of Tk10.51 crore in total, including Tk2.78 crore at 2% interest due to non payment of VAT on time.

Moinul Khan said the case has been sent to the Dhaka North VAT Commissionerate to recover the evaded VAT and to take legal action.

At present, Shumi's Hot Cake has 33 outlets and two factories. It is a very well known company for all kinds of cakes, including birthday cakes.