Tk 100 flat tax on SIM replacement proposed
Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith has proposed 5 per cent increase in import duty of mobile handset and Tk 100 flat tax on SIM replacement in the 2014-15 national budget. The finance minister also proposed to reduce supplementary duty on SIM card to 15 per cent from 20 per cent. ‘Some local companies are assembling quality mobile phones and they have to pay 15 per cent VAT at the assembling stage. On the other hand, there is only 10 percent VAT on imports of mobile phones. This has created uneven competition between local assembling industries and imports. So, I propose to impose 15 percent VAT on mobile phones at the import stage,’ Muhith said in his speech for the proposed budget in the parliament on Thursday.
Asked about the issue, Association of Mobile Telephone Operators of Bangladesh secretary general TIM Nurul Kabir said such decision was contradictory to government vision of Digital Bangladesh.
‘It will affect the end-users who are using cheap handset for worldwide connectivity after the 3G service launch,’ he told New Age.
Kabir said if the government wanted to create level-playing field between the local assemblers and importers, then it should cut VAT by 5 per cent.
‘On the SIM replacement tax issue, I think the government should totally waive the tax on SIM,’ he said.
The number of mobile phone subscribers rose to 11.56 crore as of April from 9.06 crore two years ago, according to data from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.
The BTRC data showed the number of mobile handset imports rose to about 2 crore in 2013 from 1.3 crore the previous year while about 98 lakh mobile handsets were imported in 2011.
-With New Age input
