BRAC University students to get VAT refund, registrar declares after NBR clarification

BRAC University will refund students the VAT charged on tuition fees they have already paid following the National Board of Revenue’s clarification that students were not supposed to bear the 7.5 percent tax.

“According to the NBR decision, BRAC University authorities will pay the VAT,” its registrar Md Sohul Afzal said in a clarification before agitating students.

In response to questions by students about what will happen to those who had already paid the amount, he said the money would be refunded.

The assurance ended the sit-in protests by its students on key roads linking Mohakhali and Gulshan 1, which were shut since the demonstrators took to the streets in the morning.

The NBR clarified in a statement on Thursday that the private universities, not the students, would be paying VAT on tuition fees.

It also said there was ‘no scope’ of hiking the fees.

On July 4, the NBR imposed VAT on private universities, and medical and engineering colleges.

Students of these institutions have been protesting against the decision since then.

On Wednesday, law enforcers and students clashed during demonstrations in front of East West University.

Students of other private universities took to the streets the next day, blocking key roads with sit-ins, effectively putting capital Dhaka to a halt.

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