Md Arif Hossain of Lalbagh sold a plot of land and went to buy savings certificates with the proceeds. He was turned away: he needed proof of having filed an income tax return, not merely a TIN certificate. Since this year's budget, 38 services, from sanchayapatra and land registration to a credit card, a utility connection or a trade licence, require the return acknowledgement slip. A great many people with a TIN and no habit of filing are discovering this the same way. The deadline for individuals is 30 November, and the return can now be filed from home.
Who must file, and who must pay
Everyone who holds a Taxpayer Identification Number must file a return, whether or not any tax is due. Tax becomes payable when annual income, excluding house rent, medical and conveyance allowances, exceeds Tk 3 lakh, or when basic salary exceeds Tk 16,000 a month. The threshold is Tk 3.5 lakh for women, people over 65 and third-gender taxpayers, Tk 4.5 lakh for taxpayers with disabilities and Tk 4.75 lakh for gazetted war-wounded freedom fighters. The return covers the previous financial year, July to June; the 2022 return reports income from July 2021 to June 2022. If your income is below the threshold you file a "zero return" and pay nothing.
Filing online, step by step
- Go to etaxnbr.gov.bd (linked from nbr.gov.bd) and choose e-Return.
- Register with your TIN and the mobile number registered to your NID. A six-digit OTP arrives by SMS; enter it and set a strong password.
- Sign in. The form asks for income by source, allowable expenses, assets and liabilities; salaried employees mostly need their salary certificate, bank statements and any investment documents for rebates.
- For a zero return, the process takes a few minutes. If tax is due, the site calculates it and the rebate, and shows what to pay; payment can be made online.
- Submit and download the acknowledgement slip. That slip is what the bank or the sub-registrar will ask to see.
The site also issues the return copy and tax certificate, and takes applications for a time extension. Returns can still be filed on paper at the tax office, at the tax fairs held each November, or at a Bangladesh mission abroad.
No TIN yet?
Get one at incometax.gov.bd: click Register, fill in your personal details, enter the code sent to your phone, then apply for the TIN certificate while logged in and download it immediately. You need an NID and a mobile number; a company needs its RJSC number. Then go back to the e-return site and file, because from the moment you have a TIN, the filing obligation begins.
Missing the deadline means a penalty and interest on any tax due, and, more practically, the 38 doors stay closed until you file.
