The government is considering to review the provision of tax collection from the income of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission in response to its appeal seeking tax exemption, finance ministry officials said. Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith has recently informed the revenue board through a note on an appeal made by the BSEC that the issue of collecting tax from the income of regulatory bodies would have to be reviewed.
The government in the budget for the current fiscal year imposed 25 per cent tax on income of 29 autonomous authorities including two regulatory bodies—BSEC and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.
BSEC chairman M Khairul Hossain recently wrote a letter to the finance minister seeking exemption from payment of tax on its income arguing that the body needed huge fund to implement its 10-year master plan.
He said that BSEC was working for expansion of capital market and developing infrastructure including establishment of clearing corporation, derivative market and commodity market.
The regulatory authority is also planning to increase its manpower to 620 from the existing 164.
It is also planning to conduct rigorous awareness programme on capital market among people and expand capital market education, he said.
BSEC is also working to increase the income of the government from the capital market.
Considering the issues, the government should provide tax exemption to the BSEC as the body will have to implement all the programmes with its own income as it is currently not getting any financial assistance from the government, he wrote.
In response to the BSEC’s appeal, finance minister AMA Muhith wrote a note on the letter that the issue would have to be reviewed and forwarded the letter to NBR.
Earlier in July, BTRC also denied to pay income tax claiming it has no taxable income.
In a letter to the NBR chairman Ghulam Hussain, the BTRC said that the revenue board should exempt it from paying taxes and withdraw the provision introduced in the Income Tax Ordinance-1984.
NBR officials, however, said that they did not get any instruction from the finance minister yet.
They, however, said that the tax was imposed by the parliament. So only the parliament can withdraw the tax.
The government imposed the tax to increase its revenue collection, they said adding that it will give bad notion to the people about tax payment if government organisations decline to pay tax.
-With New Age input
