State Minister for Commerce Ahsanul Islam Titu today announced that Bangladesh is set to sign an agreement with Myanmar, in addition to India, to import essential commodities. He added that the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will be signing the agreement on behalf of the government.

While speaking at a programme organised by the Bangladesh Secretariat Reporters Forum (BSRF), held at the Secretariat, the state minister said, “We are going to sign an agreement with India to import daily essentials to ensure a smooth supply. Besides, we’ll also sign a deal with Myanmar to bring essential commodities and extend the river transport communication. We have almost finalised an agreement in this regard. We will try to sign the agreement in July,” he said, reported UNB.

Onion, pulse and other daily essentials can be imported from Myanmar, he added.

“We have one goal, that is to give some relief to the common people. To some extent, we can keep the market moving. That is why we are taking these steps,” said Titu.

Noting that a number of land ports have been opened, the state minister said, “Along with land ports, we have given importance to border haat (markets). We have borders in many remote areas where we have initiated some “border haat” to increase the facilities of the people living there.”

Replying to a question about whether the price of potato and onion – being sold at Tk 70 and Tk 90-95 per kg – is normal, the state minister said there is an adequate supply of potato and onion in the market and the price is normal.

“The price of any product depends on the supply and demand in the market and if we can supply the product, the price will come down automatically,” said the state minister, adding, “We have to consider the market price of potatoes and onions until there is an ample supply.”

BSRF president Fasih Uddin Mahtab and its general secretary Masudul Haque administered the programme.

Companies and organisations will be required to file tax returns on the income generated by employee welfare funds from the current fiscal year and pay a 27.5 percent tax on the earnings. 

The Income Tax Act 2023 incorporates the provision, lifting the tax exemption and amnesty on the compulsion to file returns for funds such as provident funds, gratuity funds and workers' profit participation funds maintained by the private sector.

The law, however, has exempted government-managed provident funds from taxation, raising questions.

TIM Nurul Kabir, executive director of the Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said there were many other avenues to collect tax.

"Employees benefit from provident funds after their retirement. So, the authority should not slap taxes on retirement benefit."

He said while levying the tax, the government has not treated provident funds of the private and public sectors equally.

"It is discriminatory," he said, adding that they would appeal to the tax authority for the withdrawal of the tax on income from provident funds.

Debabrata Roy Chowdhury, director for legal, regulatory and corporate affairs at Nestlé Bangladesh PLC, said the introduction of income tax on trust funds would lower the overall income from such schemes.

"This will have an adverse long-term impact on retired employees of private organisations."

Chowdhury urged the authority to address the issue in line with the spirit of the government's initiatives aimed at ensuring social security for private sector employees.

"The recent introduction of the universal pension scheme for private sector employees is a good example of that."

A senior official of the NBR, on condition of anonymity, said the income of government-managed provident funds was exempted in line with the Provident Fund Act 1925.

He said provident funds under the private sector had been historically exempted and there was no requirement to submit tax returns. As a result, it was unclear whether the funds were properly utilised.

"From now onwards, we will see proper disclosure."

The tax official said the contribution of payroll tax is about 3 percent of the total income tax although it should increase as the economy is growing.

Md Shahadat Hossain, a former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh, said income from investment in savings certificates, where people invest as a source of future earnings, is already taxed.

"From that perspective, the imposition of tax on provident and other employee welfare funds seems okay."

However, Towfiqul Islam Khan, senior research fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said social protection for private sector employees was low.

"Provident and other workers' welfare-related funds provide little social protection. The imposition of tax will increase inequality. But there can't be any discrimination in taxation between private and government provident funds."

Khan, citing the latest income tax law that replaced the Income Tax Ordinance 1984, said the NBR tried to find new avenues to increase tax collection and improve the nation's revenue-gross domestic product ratio, which is one of the lowest in the world.

"We can see the desperation of the tax authority to boost collection. This ultimately reveals the inability of the NBR to catch the tax evaders and illicit money makers."