Economic Reporter :
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) has hailed the proposed budget of FY 2022-23 in its instant budget reaction.
In a statement, Md Shahadat Hossain, President of the ICAB, said, “We congratulate the incumbent of Bangladesh led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the announcement of 15th consecutive budget for the FY 2022-23.”
In spite of post pandemic situation, Russia-Ukraine War, and other global uncertainties, government has taken a challenge of implementing development budget of Tk 246,066 crore which is very encouraging step to move forward for a developing country like us, he said.
Additional budget in the infrastructure sector is a commendable step taken by the government, he said. Expanding the tax net is very much necessary for improving the tax GDP ratio and the government should take further steps to expand the tax net, he said. “We believe that the joint initiative of NBR and ICAB in implementing Document Verification System (DVS) will facilitate to achieve the targeted revenue. We also believe that this initiative will bring about transparency and accountability in financial arena. Tax reform may also contribute for improving tax GDP ratio and increasing revenue collection. Implementation of DVS for increasing collection of government revenue has been appreciated in the budget speech,” Shahadat said.
The ICAB welcomes the following recommendations in Income Tax Laws– conditional reduction in tax rates for certain types of companies, changing in the rates and areas of withholding taxes, introduction of 12 per cent tax rate for all other general industries exporting goods and services and 10 per cent for green industries, changing the definitions of amalgamation and research and development, amortization of pre-commencement expenditure and separate provisions for start-up businesses- as all are the business friendly decisions.
He also expressed concern on the following decision, disallowed the contributions made to a company’s Workers’ Profit Participation Fund, unchanged in tax free limit and imposition of capital gain tax from investment in government securities.
He appreciated the following changes in the VAT and Supplementary Duty Act.
The changes are business entity may get central registration if it has 1 or more manufacturing units instead of 2 or more, input tax credit on service for trader, in case of VAT deducted at source, decreasing adjustment from 2 tax period to 4 tax period, in case of supply of exempted goods and services, imposed penalty instead of revoking the exemption facility when a violation of the conditions takes place, reduction of penalty from 100 per cent to 50 per cent and maximum 100 per cent and charging interest on VAT arrears up to a maximum of 24 months.
