The National Board of Revenue has decided to exempt the Biman Bangladesh Airlines from tax on the lease of aircrafts that the national flag carrier is going to take
lease for operating Hajj flights this year, NBR officials said.
The tax authorities in a recent meeting made the decision saying that the existing 37.5 per cent source tax on aircraft lease rent would increase the transport cost of Hajj aspirants.
‘Biman plays an important role in carrying Hajj aspirants every year and it has to take lease of aircrafts because of shortage of planes in its fleet,’ a senior NBR official told New Age on Saturday.
The national flag carrier authorities informed the revenue board that the plane fare for each Hajj aspirant would be increased significantly if the NBR did not exempt the tax on aircraft lease rent.
Considering the possible impact of the tax on transport cost of the Hajj aspirants, the NBR has decided to provide Biman with the exemption, he said.
Biman authorities are set to lease four wide-body aircrafts having more
than 250-seat capacity
for a period of three months for operating Hajj flights this year, Biman officials said.
They said that the leasing process would be completed soon as the Hajj flights are supposed to start from middle of September. The tentative starting date of Hajj is October 12.
This year, Biman will carry around 44,000 Hajj aspirants, they said.
The revenue board is also considering reducing the rate of advance
income tax on lease rent of aircrafts that Biman will take lease for other
purpose than operating Hajj flights.
The officials said the NBR had discussed to reduce the rate to 5 per cent from the existing 37.5 per cent.
Final decision will be made at the next board meeting after examining the probable impact of the tax cut on the revenue collection, they said.
The Biman officials said it was planning to take lease another two wide-body aircrafts having 450-passenger capacity for operating international flights and two turbo-prop planes with 50-passenger capacity for five
years for operating domestic flights.
As part of Biman’s expansion, the national flag carrier has taken two-year strategy plan to make it profitable by the financial year 2014–15 and to double Biman fleet size to 16 aircraft in order to increase its international routes and domestic flights.
-With New Age input
