TIN for bank accounts and VAT on grocery shops may be dropped, 5pc tax slab may return

The finance bill 2026 is going to be passed in the Jatiya Sangsad tomorrow with some changes to the original proposals made by the finance minister on June 11.

Officials said that the mandatory requirement for taxpayer identification number for opening bank accounts might be dropped following criticisms from economists and bankers that the low-income groups  would feel discouraged to join formal banking.

Proposals have also been made to bring over a dozen businesses, including grocery stores, beauty parlours, shoe stores, hardware shops, decorators, corrugated iron sheet sellers, and rod and cement traders under the value added tax coverage.

But grocery stores may be dropped from the list as the move has already been opposed by many, including a ruling party leader.

On Thursday, Bangladesh Nationalist Party senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said that small grocery stores had limited income and should not be brought under the VAT coverage.

Another proposal, by which the finance minister has dropped the 5 per cent tax bracket from the individual income tax payment slabs, may be withdrawn.

In the past week, finance minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury in a post-budget discussion said that they would likely to restore the tax slab following observations by economists that individual savings and wealth maximisation by small and medium income groups would face negative impacts.

The current 15 per cent duty concession on imports of mobile phones granted since January 2026 by the immediate past interim government will expire on June 30.

The present government may maintain the duty concession after the Mobile Industry Owners’ Association of Bangladesh calculated that the total tax burden on imported mobile phones would rise to 64.25 per cent again.

The passage of finance bill is linked to the overall income projected for the new financial year 2026-27.

Starting from Wednesday, the government projected total revenue earnings of Tk 6.95 lakh crore with Tk 6.04 lakh crore from the National Board of Revenue and Tk 91,000 crore from other sources in the FY27 

However, analysts and credit rating agencies have flagged these targets as highly ambitious and difficult to achieve.