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Businesses on Wednesday at a programme urged the government to reconsider the provisions related to tax on contribution to Workers’ Profit Participation Fund and conditional tax reduction for the listed entities.
The provision of the proposed finance bill in which a company will have to pay tax on its contribution to the WPPF will ultimately increase the income tax burden of the companies and similarly increase the effective tax rate, they said.
They also proposed to amend the condition that at least 10 per cent shares of a listed company must be held by the public in order to avail 2.5 per cent corporate tax reduction facility.
They prescribed such recommendations about the proposed national budget for the fiscal year 2022-23 at a press meeting arranged by the Foreign Investor’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) held at the Hotel Sheraton in the capital.
They said, as per the finance bill 2022, certain types of listed companies that have issued more than 10 per cent of their shares through IPO would be able to enjoy the reduced tax rate.
They said that the provision should be amended and the law should allow at least 50 per cent of the proceeds to be collected through banking channels to avail such a reduced tax rate.
FICCI president and Standard Chartered Bangladesh chief executive officer Naser Ezaz Bijoy presided over the event.
Bijoy said, ‘We appreciate the efforts that were put into proposing the budget in such difficult circumstances. There are some progressive changes, which may remove complexities as well as improve our ease of doing business index, which is highly appreciable.’
However, the growth of the MNCs will be slowed down with the disclosure of some of the provisions which will further prove discouraging to local and foreign investments, he said.
Adviser of the FICCI advisory committee and managing director of Berger Paints Rupali Chowdhury, FICCI director and MD and CEO of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd Zaved Akhtar, adviser of FICCI advisory panel and MD of the British American Tobacco Bangladesh Co Ltd Shehzad Munim, FICCI director and chairman of FICCI tariff, taxation and regulatory affairs committee and MD of Nestle Bangladesh Ltd Deepal Abeywickrema, among others, were present in the event.
FICCI executive director TIM Nurul Kabir hosted the programme.
