Haque Specialized Group's News

The government has reduced income tax at source to 0.70 per cent for all the export-oriented sectors, except jute and jute goods sector, which has been enjoying 0.60 per cent tax rate. The source tax for the export industries was increased to 1.0 per cent from 0.70 per cent in the budget for the current fiscal year (FY), 2017-18. The Internal Resources Division (IRD) under the Ministry of Finance issued a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO), dated August 05, in this regard. The Income Tax Wing under the National Board of Revenue (NBR) issued the SRO with retrospective effect from July 1, 2017. The order will remain effective until June 30, 2018. The source tax has been reduced to the previous level following demands of the exporters. Talking to the FE, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Md Siddiqur Rahman welcomed the decision. "The source tax should be much lower than the reduced rate, considering growth of the export sectors in Bangladesh," he added. The exporters of various items, including knitwear, woven garments, terry towel, carton and accessories of garment industry, frozen food, vegetables, leather and leather goods, and packed food etc, will enjoy the reduced rate like the previous FY. Banks deduct the tax at source at the time of crediting export proceeds to the exporters' accounts. Jute and jute goods exporters have been enjoying 0.60 per cent tax at source from FY 2015-16 that will continue until June 2019. However, Income Tax Wing feared Tk 9.0 billion shortfall in its projected revenue collection in this FY due to the reduction of tax at source for exporters. On the basis of tax measures in the national budget, NBR estimated the additional revenue, as the source tax was increased to 1.0 per cent from 0.70 per cent. According to Income Tax Ordinance 1984, the rate of source tax on export is 1.0 per cent since FY 2015-16. Every year the revenue board reduces the rate through issuing SRO to extend the tax benefit. Until NBR issues any SRO for reducing the rate, the 1.0 per cent tax at source for export-earning sectors automatically comes into effect as per the income tax ordinance, officials said. The source tax will be considered as advance tax as well as minimum income tax on export proceeds. The exporters will have to pay additional income tax, if they show additional income from the export sectors in income tax returns, they added. Meanwhile, NBR also issued another SRO, reducing the corporate income tax for knitwear and woven garments manufacturers and exporters to 12 per cent for FY 2017-18. Last year, the rate was 20 per cent. There are different corporate income tax rates in the country for different sectors. The reduced corporate tax rate for RMG exporters has been declared in the budget for FY 2017-18. But NBR issued the SRO on August 5, giving retrospective effect from July 1, 2017. Green factories, having international green building certification, will enjoy 10 per cent corporate tax rate on their income from export proceedings. doulot_akter@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-08-08 00:00:04

Police recovered a body of a freedom fighter's son from Kathalbaria village of Puthia upazila on Monday night. The deceased has been identified as Ziaur Rahman Zia, 28, son of late freedom fighter Jeker Ali of the village. Sayedur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Puthia Police Station, said that locals spotted Ziaur's body on the blood-stained floor of his house in the evening and informed police. Police later recovered the body around 8:00pm The body bore several injury marks and there was a rope on its neck, said the OC; according to UNB.....

Published at: 2017-08-08 00:00:04

Hilsa will be on the menu in different countries as a Geographical Indication or GI product of Bangladesh with the local patent authorities moving to register it. The Department of Patents, Designs, and Trademarks or DPDT published a gazette on June 1 inviting objections, if any, within two months, to GI registration of Hilsa. The department is now registering the fish as a GI product as no complaint was made following the gazette, DPDT Registrar Md Sanwar Hossain said on Monday, reports bdnews24.com. He said the certificate on Hilsa's GI registration will soon be handed to the Department of Fisheries, which applied for the registration last year. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, a Geographical Indication (GI) is a sign used on products that have a particular geographic origin, possess, qualities, or a reputation that are due to that origin. GI indication of goods acts as the "claim to fame" for a state. Bangladesh made the GI law - the Geographical Indicative Products (Registration and Protection) Act - in 2013. A GI policy was made in line with the law after another two years. Later, measures were taken to register traditional 'Jamdani' saree, delicacy 'Rasmalai,' and textile 'Khadi'. The DPDT recognised 'Jamdani' saree as the first GI product of Bangladesh last year. Its Registrar Sanwar said after the recognition of Hilsa as GI product, it will be sold as a brand abroad and consumers will be able to recognise the product correctly. Referring to a research, he said consumers are always interested to pay 10 to 30 per cent more to buy quality products. "This is the financial benefit (of GI registration)," he added. Bangladesh is the top Hilsa producer in the world, contributing 75 per cent to the production. Myanmar produces 15 per cent, India 5 per cent and the rest comes from other countries. Bangladesh's Hilsa is popular for its taste and flavour. The demand for Bangladesh's Hilsa is very high in India.....

Published at: 2017-08-08 00:00:04

The World Bank has offered Bangladesh US$500 million worth of costly credits from its 'Scale-up Facility Fund', alongside its concessional loans, though project- executing agencies demur, sources said. Government officials said the Washington-based lender in the last Financial Year (FY) 2016-17 introduced the scale-up facility fund (SUF) for an investment-promotion and- financing-facility project in Bangladesh. After reservations from the project-executing agency-Bangladesh Bank-the WB provided $100 million from the SUF instead of preliminarily offered $300 million, a senior Ministry of Finance (MoF) official said. The Bangladesh Bank (BB) expressed its reservations over the borrowing of the costly funds from the WB's newly introduced SUF for its 'Investment Promotion and Financing Facility Project-II (IPFF-II)' in fear of mismatch on the domestic financial market, he said. Later, the WB provided $200 million in loan from its concessional arm-the International Development Association (IDA)-and $100 million from the costly SUF for the above-mentioned project. The MoF official said the WB recently recommended that Bangladesh borrow $500 million or more from its SUF as it has limited IDA funds for lending to the country. "Since the WB is repeatedly pursuing us to borrow from the SUF, we have already decided to take the money for power-grid-development works of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB)," he added. However, the PGCB has informed the MoF that it is not willing to borrow the entire sum of $500 million from the SUF due to the costly options rather wants the loan from the IDA, the MoF official told the FE, requesting anonymity. According to the MoF official, the terms and conditions of the SUF loan will be harder as its interest rate is nearly 4.0 per cent with a shorter repayment period. Currently, the global lender provides Bangladesh concessional loans from its softer window-the IDA-which carries only 0.75 per cent interest with a 36-year maturity. A senior ERD official said since Bangladesh needs huge investments, it could take the credits from the SUF for those development works which promise fair returns. "Moreover, we have no option but to borrow the loan as the WB can't provide more than its certain amount of concessional loan from Bangladesh in the IDA-18 package," he added. Officials said Bangladesh in the last FY2017 agreed to borrow the costly loan as the Washington-based lender having series of meetings with the government policymakers to provide the credit from its $3.9 billion worth of additional capital called-Scale-up Facility (SUF). Another MoF official said they had been compelled to allow borrowing the non-concessional credits from the WB as some policymakers want to implement their projects even with the costly credits. Finance Minister AMA Muhith had asked the ERD to process the loan from the newly offered WB fund if any public agency seeks the money for implementing their projects with potential better returns, ministry officials said. He said since the WB had failed to lend its 'stuck-up' $3.9-billion SUF fund due to its harder terms and conditions to its member-countries, it has been persuading Bangladesh government to borrow. Under the IDA-17 package, the WB has kept aside some $890 million worth of funds from the SUF for the South Asian nations, including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. A senior ERD official thinks that if Bangladesh took the loans from the SUF, the WB would feel encouraged to lend money from its other hard-term windows-the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) -- in the near future. "So if we can continue with the concessional loan from the soft window of the WB, it will be better for the struggling infrastructure and social-sector development of Bangladesh," he said. kabirhumayan10@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-08-08 00:00:04

A suspected terrorist was arrested after he was injured in a gunfight with detectives in Rail Line area of Chashara in the Narayanganj city on Monday night. The arrestee was identified as Yasin Arafat, 35, reports UNB. Mizanur Rahman, sub-inspector of Detective Branch of police, said that a DB team conducted a drive in the area around 11:30pm. Sensing the presence of law enforcers, Yasin opened fire to them, prompting them to retaliate, triggering a gunfight that left him bullet-injured. The DB team also confiscated a pistol along with four rounds of bullets after searching his body.....

Published at: 2017-08-08 00:00:04