National Board of Revenue

History

The National Board of Revenue was established in 1972 through the National Board of Revenue Order, 1972. Later, the structure of the National Board of Revenue was amended through Act No 12 of 2009. The Customs, Excise and VAT Appellate Tribunal was a tribunal under the National Board of Revenue established in 1995.

The National Board of Revenue provided carnet de passage for tourists despite Bangladesh not being a signatory to the relevant United Nations treaties. From 2018, the National Board of Revenue started to sought taxes from Facebook, Google, and YouTube following requests by Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh.

On 25 April 2025, the interim government issued a presidential ordinance to restructure the board. The ordinance, which states that the existing NBR will be dissolved and replaced by two new divisions under the Ministry of Finance, one being the Revenue Policy Division (RPD) and another being the Revenue Management Division (RMD). Accordingly on 13 May 2025, the government dissolved NBR and split into two RPD and RMD, through Revenue Policy and Revenue Management Ordinance, 2025. According to the ordinance, where RPD's work would be to monitor the implementation of tax laws and the tax collection situation, the RMD's work would be to collect revenues. The ordinance stated that existing personnel of NBR would be absorbed into RMD. Officers of Income Tax and Customs cadres protested the discussion and called for revocation. However, the ordinance has not yet been implemented due to strong opposition, and the government is now considering amendments to the proposal.

On 29 June 2025, the Port of Chittagong, Bangladesh's largest shipping terminal, closed due to a strike by NBR employees protesting against the agency's splitting. The port reopened the next day following negotiations between the strikers and the finance ministry.

Structure

The NBR had one chairperson and eight members - four for direct tax and four for indirect tax. The secretary of internal resources division acted as the ex-officio chairman of the board. There were 45 departments/directorates under the NBR, of which 25 were related to direct tax and 20 related to indirect tax.

List of chairmen

References

References

1. (2025-05-22). "No possibility of dissolving NBR right now: Finance Ministry".
2. "National Board of Revenue".
3. "NBR provides all taxpayers what they need to know". bdnews24.com.
4. Bhuiyan, Md. Mosharraf Hossain. (2018-06-01). "NBR Annual report 2016-17".
5. "পরামর্শক কমিটির সুপারিশ আমলে না নিয়েই এনবিআর পৃথকের খসড়া অধ্যাদেশ".
6. (2025-05-13). "NBR abolished at midnight, ordinance issued".
7. "Revenue System at Risk of Executive Control: TIB".
8. (2025-05-17). "Revenue management at risk of coming under executive control: TIB". The Daily Star.
9. (2025-05-19). "Division of NBR was not done properly: Debapriya Bhattacharya".
10. "Customs, Excise & VAT Appellate Tribunal, Dhaka, Bangladesh".
11. (2024-06-23). "ACC initiates investigation against NBR's Matiur". Prothom Alo.
12. Parvez, Sohel. (2013-06-03). "A mistake that costs NBR Tk 200cr". The Daily Star.
13. Parvez, Sohel. (2018-04-29). "NBR moves to tax Facebook, Google". The Daily Star.
14. {{url. https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/bangladesh-moves-split-revenue-authority-new-ordinance-3879816
15. (13 May 2025). "NBR split into two divisions".
16. (13 May 2025). "Govt. abolishes NBR, splits it into two new revenue divisions".
17. (13 May 2025). "এনবিআর ও আইআরডি বিলুপ্ত করে হচ্ছে দুটি বিভাগ, কী হবে তাদের কাজ".
18. (29 June 2025). "Strike shuts down Bangladesh's biggest port". [[France 24]].
19. (30 June 2025). "Bangladesh's biggest port resumes operations as strike ends". [[France 24]].
20. "National Board of Revenue (NBR), Bangladesh".