The National Board of Revenue (NBR) of Bangladesh has drafted a new income tax law that seeks to keep corporate tax rates equal for all companies and narrow down the list of tax breaks and exemptions. The drafted new law is expected to replace the existing Income Tax Ordinance 1984 after its enactment in the national parliament. It favors scrapping the provision of minimum tax for individuals, limiting withholding tax to 15 sectors in place of the current 54 sectors and withdrawing the scope of final settlements.
The draft seeks to maintain tax on net wealth and favors fixing a separate tax rate for cooperatives and other associations, nonprofit organizations and local government bodies, according to a paper presented at a consultation meeting on the formulation of a new income tax law at the NBR headquarters.
Currently the NBR maintains five types of rates of corporate tax depending on sectors, with mobile phone operators and cigarette makers taxed the highest at 45 percent.
