National Board of Revenue Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan said that the price of cigarettes will not be hiked in the upcoming budget for the financial year 2025-26.
He also said there has been a recommendation to reduce the number of cigarette segments from four to three, which is feasible.
Regarding the tax evasion of the bidi industry, he said that the tax on bidi is much lower than that on cigarettes.
鈥楽o, the tax evasion in the bidi industry must be stopped; otherwise, we will take strict measures and if necessary, we will enact strict laws which may lead to business closures,鈥� he added.
He spoke with businesses on Wednesday at a pre-budget discussion for FY26 at the NBR office in the capital, Dhaka.
He also said that domestic companies are not paying taxes as required by law, which should not continue in the long run. The government will take immediate action on this.
In the discussion, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International, and local cigarette and bidi manufacturers presented their proposals for the upcoming budget of FY26.
Shabab Choudhury, head of corporate and regulatory affairs of the BATBC, said that cigarettes account for the lion鈥簊 share of the country鈥簊 revenue.
He also said that long-term consultation is mandatory in this sector and urged the NBR not to hike the prices of cigarettes again so that the prices can remain stable for consumers.
He also said that the abnormal hike in the price of cigarettes accelerated the smuggling.
Representatives from the JTI also echoed the BAT official.
In discussion with the NBR, the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh proposed merging mobile operators with other companies on taxation and reducing tax by 10 per cent.
Currently, the rate of tax on mobile operators is 40 per cent for listed companies and 45 per cent for non-listed companies where those on general companies are 20 per cent and 27.5 per cent, respectively.
The AMTOB also said that Bangladesh currently has DTAA with 40 countries. However, foreign companies without offices in Bangladesh have to obtain a mandatory deduction certificate from the NBR.
In this regard, the AMTOB proposed that NBR abolish the mandatory deduction system for companies whose parent country has a DTAA with Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries proposed significantly reducing duty from 127.72 per cent on importing containers for nasal spray, dust caps, and spray pumps.
They also proposed to reduce corporate tax to 25 per cent from existing 27.5 per cent.
BAPI proposed to fix 20 per cent as cash transaction of a company鈥簊 total expenditure.
Bangladesh Steel Manufacturers Association proposed reducing the tax deducted at source to 1 per cent from the existing 2 per cent when selling MS products or rods.
They also proposed reducing the regulatory duty on importing ferro alloys to 5 per cent from the existing 15 per cent.
Bangladesh Iron and Steel Importers Association proposed reducing custom duty to 10 per cent from the existing 25 per cent and regulatory duty to zero from the existing 10 percent.
They also proposed exempting surcharges from the existing 10 per cent to 25 per cent.
BISIA also proposed to introduce 5 per cent VAT slab and to exempt advance tax from existing 5 per cent.
