The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Friday said it will ban the import of more equipment ‌from a group of Chinese manufacturers, the latest move by Washington ‌to crack down on Chinese-made electronic gear, reports AFP.

The move expands an FCC ban imposed in 2022 on ​new models of telecommunications and video surveillance equipment made by Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision, and Dahua, citing U.S. national security risks.

The ban now includes old models, not just those designed starting in late 2022, of equipment used for "public safety, ‌security of government facilities, physical security surveillance of critical infrastructure, and other national security purposes," the FCC said.

The expanded ban is set to take effect in early July. The FCC said the action "is necessary to protect national security by mitigating risks to the U.S. communications sector."

The Chinese Embassy in Washington and ​the companies ​did not immediately respond to inquiries.

The FCC ​said it would allow Americans ‌to continue to use equipment they already own.

The FCC has taken a number of actions targeting Chinese tech, including banning imports of all new models of Chinese drones in December. In March it banned the import of new models of Chinese-made consumer routers, the boxes that connect computers, phones and smart devices ‌to the internet.

The new order does not ​ban imports of prior models of drones and ​routers.

In October, the FCC voted ​3-0 to block new approvals for devices with parts from ‌companies on its list and let ​the agency bar ​previously approved equipment in some instances.

Hikvision sued in December challenging that decision, saying the agency exceeded its authority and lacked basis for the move.

The ​FCC is also considering ‌prohibiting U.S. telecommunications carriers from interconnecting with Chinese telecom firms, which ​would effectively ban Chinese telecoms from operating U.S. data centers.

END/AFP/ASA

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."