DHAKA, Aug 10, 2025 (BSS) - The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has urged all taxpayers to act as responsible citizens by truthfully declaring their actual income, expenditure, assets, and liabilities in their returns and thus contributing to the nation's development. 

The revenue board also warned taxpayers not to fall into the trap of fraudulent 'zero return' schemes circulating on social media and urged them to protect themselves from the risk of imprisonment or fines, said an NBR press release.

It said that the NBR has noticed several misleading posts on social media regarding the filing of so-called 'zero returns.'

These posts claim that an income tax return can be submitted by filling all sections of the return form with "zero." Acting on this misinformation, some taxpayers have reportedly been making false declarations regarding their income, expenditure, assets, and liabilities in their returns.

The NBR clarifies that under the Income Tax Act, 2023, there is no provision for filing any return described as a 'zero return.' According to the law, taxpayers must accurately declare their actual income, expenditure, assets, and liabilities in the income tax return.

Falsely declaring any of these as zero, or declaring all of them as zero, without reflecting actual figures, is completely illegal and constitutes a criminal offence. Under Sections 312 and 313 of the Income Tax Act, 2023, providing false or incorrect information in an income tax return can result in imprisonment for up to five years.

It is both a legal and moral duty of every taxpayer to make truthful declarations in their returns regarding their income, expenditure, assets, and liabilities.

 If a taxpayer's actual income is not taxable under the law, they will not be required to pay any tax. However, even in such cases, there is no scope in the law to submit a return with false zero entries.