The government is likely to drop the proposal for voluntary declaration and legalisation of undisclosed income from previous transactions involving buildings and flats from the proposed Finance Bill 2026, finance ministry officials said on Sunday.
Growing criticism that providing such scope is unethical and would encourage tax evasion may have prompted the government to drop the provision when the bill is passed in the Jatiya Sangsad today, they said.
The government may also backtrack on the imposition of Tk 2 advance income tax on retailers for transactions worth Tk 1,000, following opposition from businesses that the final tax burden would be passed on to consumers already strained by inflation, which has averaged about 9 per cent over the past three years.
To provide relief to individual taxpayers, the government is likely to increase the tax-free income threshold to Tk 4,00,000 from the Tk 3,75,000 proposed in the national budget for the 2026-27 financial year, while keeping the proposed four tax brackets despite demands from economists to restore the previous 5 per cent tax slab.
On June 11, finance and planning minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury placed the FY27 national budget of Tk 9.38 lakh crore and the Finance Bill 2026, projecting an overall revenue of Tk 6.95 lakh crore for the new financial year starting from July 1.
Of the revenue, Tk 6.04 lakh crore has been projected to be generated by the National Board of Revenue, while Tk 91,000 crore is expected from other sources.
Officials said that the mandatory requirement of a taxpayer identification number for opening bank accounts might be relaxed, as the proposal drew criticism that it could discourage low-income groups from accessing formal banking services.
Proposals have also been made in the FY27 budget to bring over a dozen types of 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 net.
However, grocery stores may be dropped from the list, as the move has already faced opposition from many, finance ministry officials said.
The current 15 per cent duty concession on mobile phone imports, granted since January 2026 by the immediate past interim government, will expire on June 30.
The present government led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party may extend the duty concession after the Mobile Industry Owners’ Association of Bangladesh calculated that the total tax burden on imported mobile phones would rise again to 64.25 per cent if the concession is withdrawn.
