Economic Reporter :
The Google Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd has obtained Value-Added Tax (VAT) registration after the National Board of Revenue (NBR) amended provisions to remove obstacles.
It has appointed a local VAT agent to deal with the VAT-related issues with the NBR as it has no permanent establishment in Bangladesh.
A senior NBR official said the board issued business identification number (BIN) in favour of the global technology giant on Monday.
In Bangladesh, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is the global consultant of Google.
However, the PwC declined to work as VAT agent of the company as its global policy does not support taking liability of VAT payment by the Google, officials said.
As per the VAT law, the VAT agent will have to take responsibility in case of detection of VAT evasion by their client.
Sources said other non-resident companies, including Facebook and Netflix, are already in a process of obtaining VAT registration from the NBR.
After amending the law, non-resident companies are now allowed to obtain VAT registration, submit VAT returns and pay VAT directly from their parent companies.
To this end, the VAT Online Project (VAT) has incorporated an option in the automated VAT system.
The global giants have been facing problem since 2019 to obtain VAT registration and submit returns as the VAT law barred them from getting direct access from their resident countries.
In the upcoming fiscal budget, officials said, the NBR would relax the mandatory provision for appointing VAT agents by global companies, making it optional.
Earlier, Google and Netflix requested the NBR for necessary amendments and clarifications in the law to obtain VAT registration on their own and pay indirect tax directly instead of appointing a local agent.
Preferring anonymity, consultants of those companies said the global giants were also facing trouble for becoming non-compliant with tax matters in a country.
The companies will take the BIN within the shortest possible time following the relaxation of the rules. In other countries, appointing VAT agents is an optional rule for non-resident companies, they said.
