NBR chairman in favour of 'special tax benefits' to prevent money laundering

The National Board of Revenue chairman has said people must be stopped at all costs from smuggling money out of Bangladesh for fear of paying taxes here, even if it means offering special tax benefits to them.

The NBR will explore ways to prevent money laundering, Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem said at a seminar marking National Income Tax Day on Monday.

Former vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Pran Gopal Dutta, Senior Research Fellow of BIDS Nazneen Ahmed and Managing Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers Bangladesh Mamun Rashid also addressed the seminar via video conference.

"The NBR should consider whether citizens, who are laundering money abroad over fear of paying taxes, can keep the money in the country, even if it's through the creation of a tax haven," said Pran Gopal.

In response, the NBR chairman said, "I also agree with the proposal. We have to think about whether special tax benefits can be given to those who are laundering money abroad for fear of paying taxes in the country.

"We have to figure out how to give them opportunities not to do so."

The government does not have a clear estimate of the amount of money that is laundered from Bangladesh every year.

But according to a report published by Global Financial Integrity, a Washington-based think tank, earlier this year, around $6 billion was smuggled out of Bangladesh in 2015 in the name of trade.