Bangladesh’s Income Tax Intelligence and Investigation Unit (ITIIU) has uncovered Tk 18.74 billion in tax evasion following preliminary investigations into 183 individual and corporate taxpayers between December 2024 and July 2025.

According to a press statement released by the unit, 63 taxpayers have already paid Tk 1.17 billion in outstanding taxes through 231 e-challan payments since the irregularities were exposed.

The ITIIU has also temporarily frozen the bank accounts of more than 100 individuals and institutions, based on concrete evidence gathered during the investigations.

Md Abdur Rakib, Commissioner of the ITIIU, told The Financial Express that nearly 2,000 cases of suspected tax evasion and money laundering are currently under investigation.

Those under scrutiny include a wide range of professionals and entities: government officials, politicians, public representatives, businesspeople, journalists, athletes, actors, lawyers, doctors, engineers, teachers, and staff from banks and private firms.

Investigations are ongoing across all 41 tax zones under the National Board of Revenue (NBR), covering taxpayers in all 64 districts. The commissioner stated that the unit plans to investigate every tax circle and is currently building a database of tax evaders to facilitate enforcement and legal proceedings.

The ITIIU, formed under the NBR, was formally launched on December 1, 2024, following initial groundwork that began in January of that year. Its primary objective is to create a robust intelligence infrastructure for the direct tax system—detecting evasion, uncovering laundering networks, and recovering evaded revenue.

Despite facing operational constraints—including a lack of dedicated office space, manpower, logistics, and equipment—the unit has introduced a digital management and data analysis system to aid its work.