Haque Specialized Group's News

All income-tax offices across the country will each have a focal-point officer to extend a fair deal to foreign taxpayers, both corporate and individual, in tax-related affairs. Officials said the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has made the move following complaints from the foreign taxpayers of hurdles in getting satisfactory tax-related services. The income-tax wing of the NBR sent letters to field-level offices last week instructing all the tax commissioners to assign a focal-point officer to each zone for dealing with foreigners during their tax payment. The officer at the focal point should be of additional or joint-tax commissioner status, capable of dealing with the non-native taxpayers. In several sessions of EU-Bangladesh business-climate dialogue, foreign taxpayers claimed that they were facing difficulties in getting tax-related support in the tax offices. In the letter, the NBR said it has initiated administrative and legal reform "to expand tax-net without increasing tax rates". The NBR established tax service and information centres in all divisional cities of the country. In a bid to ensure efficient service to the foreign taxpayers, the NBR decided to assign one official as focal point in every tax zone. The board sought names, emails and other details of the assigned focal officials. The sources said foreign individual taxpayers pay tax under certain tax zones but other tax offices also have to deal with foreigners who work with different companies. Individual ones have to pay 30 per cent income tax from their annual earnings. There is no tax-free ceiling for the foreigners. Foreign corporate taxpayers pay tax as per regular tax structure for companies on the basis of categories and publicly listed or non-listed statuses. However, the government has offered three-year tax-break for the foreign technicians who work for companies that are implementing public-private partnership (PPP) projects. They are, however, to follow certain conditions and have to work in some specific sectors. Earlier, the NBR had formed different committees after smelling tax evasion by foreign workers employed in the country. The NBR also set up a desk in the three international airports and Benapole land port to collect tax from foreigners before leaving the country. Allegations are rife that many of the foreigners have evaded payment of income tax with the connivance of their employers for long. The numbers of foreign workers from India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Korea, Japan and China are on a fast increase but tax collection from them does not show that much upturn. doulot_akter@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-07-18 00:00:05

The World Bank has convened an international conference in Dhaka for tomorrow (Wednesday) under a move for rebuilding Bangladesh's chaotic capital into a dynamic and attractive urban agglomeration. Officials said Monday international experts from Oxford University, UK, Chinese megacity of Shanghai, Indian capital Delhi, Dhaka's two city mayors, local ministers, policymakers, economists, urban planners and researchers will deliver their thoughtful opinions and expertise on how Dhaka could be turned into an attractive and liveable capital city worthy of a country graduating into a higher status. The World Bank Dhaka office is organising the daylong international conference at a city hotel. A World Bank (WB) official said they will organise the event to collate some thoughtful ideas and innovations for formulating a roadmap to transform the "chaotic" Dhaka city into an attractive dynamic city by 2035. "The World Bank has plans to help the Bangladesh government to make up the capital into a truly liveable urban city," he added. Dhaka is classed as one of the least liveable cities in the world with its messy traffic, overburdened vehicles, dense population and poor urbanization activity. The WB official said former Delhi Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dixit will share her experience on how the Indian capital has turned around. Former Vice Mayor of world's miracle-city Shanghai Mr Zhao Qizheng and a Chinese urban planner Mr Zhu Ruolin will present thoughts on the transformation of the city seen as China's industrial heartland. Besides, an Oxford University Professor, Mr Anthony Venables, will present the technical foundations for Dhaka towards 2035, he said. "Experts from home and abroad, including the RAJUK Chairman, the Chief of the Special Works Organisation of the Bangladesh Army, President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Chief Economist of the World Bank, South Asia, will discuss how the plan could be turned into an action for the Dhaka city development at the international conference Wednesday," the WB official said. In addition, World Bank country director Qimiao Fan and Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary Kazi Shofiqul Azam will speak on partnership between the WB and the government for making Dhaka into a liveable city by 2035. Various reports and surveys have revealed that Dhaka is expanding fast as a sprawling, jerrybuilt metropolis amid a lack of modern plans and coordination among different agencies executing and overseeing its development works.       kabirhumayan10@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-07-18 00:00:05

India has raised the total tax on cigarettes resulting in an increase of as much as 792 rupees ($12.31) for every 1,000 cigarettes, adding about 50 billion rupees ($777 million) in revenues for the government, finance minister Arun Jaitley said. The higher rate will be effective from July 18, Jaitley told reporters in New Delhi on Monday. The new tax rate is part of a new Goods and Service Tax (GST) unveiled on July 1 in the country's biggest tax reform in the 70 years since independence. After GST was rolled out, cigarettes initially became cheaper because the total tax burden had come down by about 6-7 per cent. The tax was increased after an uproar from anti-tobacco and several health groups. ($1 = 64.3400 Indian rupees)  ....

Published at: 2017-07-18 00:00:05

India will sign the joint interpretative notes (JIN) agreement with Bangladesh to ensure smooth implementation of the investment promotion and protection pact. According to Indian news media, JIN plays an important supplementary role in strengthening the investment treaty regime. With increasing bilateral investment treaty disputes, issuance of such statements is likely to have strong persuasive value before tribunals.  The JIN would impart clarity to the interpretation of the existing agreement between India and Bangladesh for the promotion and protection of investments (BIPA). Currently there is a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) between the two countries.   ....

Published at: 2017-07-18 00:00:05

The country's apparel-makers have finally withdrawn their objection to foreign direct investment (FDI) in readymade garment (RMG) industry outside the export processing zones (EPZs), officials said. Now the government will assign the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) with the task of issuing utilisation declaration (UD) certificates for foreign-funded apparel factories after getting approval from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), they added. The apparel-makers made known about the change of their mind at a meeting last week at the ministry of commerce (MoC) with commerce secretary in-charge Shubhashish Bose in the chair. Prospective foreign investors also attended the meeting. Sources said the representative of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) agreed that the apex apparel body will issue UD certificates in favour of foreign-funded garment factories if they take membership of the Association. The membership procedure of the BGMEA will be made complication-free so that the FDI-funded factories can avail it easily. Without UD certificates, no factory can avail the bonded warehouse facility. Under bonded warehouse system, 100 per cent export-oriented factories can bring in raw materials from abroad without paying import duty.   However, the BGMEA representative refused to issue UD certificates to FDI-funded garment factories that would not take membership of the organisation. In this case, the government will employ the EPB for issuing UD certificates. The EPB had been issuing UD certificates for a long period and the responsibility later was shifted to the BGMEA and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA).    A senior MoC official said the BGMEA expressed reservation about allowing foreign-funded factories in basic garments. The foreign investors agreed that they will only produce high-end fashion apparels instead of basic ones. The BGMEA representative, who attended the meeting, could not be reached for a comment despite several attempts.    However, earlier BGMEA vice president Faruque Hassan told the FE allowing FDI in apparel sector outside the EPZs will create chaos in the industry as foreign companies will employ workers paying higher wages compared to them. "When a joint-venture factory offers wages higher than the government wage structure, workers in local factories would also demand the same which we can't afford," he said. Usually, a joint-venture factory offers Tk 8,000 per month to a low-skilled worker against Tk 5,000 set as minimum wage for this category of workers. Local factories cannot afford such a high wage denial of which will lead to labour unrest. Over 300 foreign-funded apparel factories are now operating inside the EPZs. Some joint ventures are also operating outside the EPZs. Commerce secretary Mr Bose was found determined in allowing FDI in readymade garment sector outside EPZs saying he wants foreign investments in all sectors.   Drawing foreign investment in RMG is a long-pending issue, he told the FE earlier, adding that foreigners usually want to invest in high-end fashion garments where local manufacturers hardly have any stake. Officials said Japan is particularly interested in investing in Bangladesh's apparel sector both in high-end and basic garments. Some other countries have also expressed interest to invest in this field on different occasions.   In fiscal year 2016-17, earnings from apparel shipments increased marginally to US$28.14 billion from $28.09 billion in previous fiscal. syful-islam@outlook.com....

Published at: 2017-07-18 00:00:05