Bangladesh extends deadline for individual income tax returns by 1 month

The deadline will be extended until Dec 31, giving individual taxpayers more time to submit their documents

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 30 Nov 2022, 07:54 AM
Updated : 30 Nov 2022, 07:54 AM

Bangladesh has extended the cut-off time for individual taxpayers to file their income tax returns by one month to Dec 31 amid demands for a deadline extension, says Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Munim, chief of the National Board of Revenue.

The NBR begins offering its tax month services every year on Nov 1. According to the rules, taxpayers can submit their income tax returns until Nov 30 without suffering a penalty.

However, amid the recent economic instability, various business organisations had called for the deadline to be extended.

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry submitted their demand to the NBR chairman.

On Wednesday, at an event celebrating Income Tax Day, the NBR chairman announced the extension of the deadline, which allows taxpayers to file their returns by Dec 31 without facing a penalty.

“We want to increase the number of submissions,” the NBR chief said. “We have made the decision in an effort to give people more time.”

The NBR has received about 2.4 million income tax returns as of Nov 29, said official Shamsuddin Ahmed. Last year, some 1.7 million returns had been filed by this time.

“We hope that we will receive more returns by extending the income tax return deadline by a month.”

Currently, Bangladesh has about 8.2 million citizens with unique taxpayer identification numbers. Since the last fiscal year, Bangladesh has made it mandatory for people to provide proof of their income tax deposit in order to avail themselves of 38 services, including getting a bank loan.