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ICSB organizes budget discussion

ICSB organizes budget discussion

Staff Reporter

Institute of Chartered Secretaries of Bangladesh (ICSB) organized a Discussion Session on Budget 2022-23 on Tuesday, June 21, 2022 at the Hotel Sheraton, Banani, Dhaka. The programme was chaired by Mr. Md. Azizur Rahman FCS, Senior Vice President of ICSB. Mr. Md. Shafiqul Alam FCS, Chairman, Seminar & Conference Sub Committee and Council Member of ICSB gave the overview of National Budget 2022-23. Mr. Muzaffar Ahmed FCS, President of the Institute was also present at the session and gave his concluding remarks, says a press release.

The Discussion Session was attended by a good number of former and current government officials, corporate leaders, economic sector specialists, heads of professional institutes & associations and dignitaries.

At the beginning Mr. Md. Shafiqul Alam FCS presented his keynote paper highlighting major features of the budget, emphasizing on its up and down sides. The panel speakers discussed some proposals of the new budget and probable impact on the corporations in many ways. The speakers said that the proposed budget bears a huge deficit of Tk 2450 billion. Achieving this budget would pose tremendous pressure on the government considering the challenges posed by COVID 19 situation, effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the big burden of Rohingya refugees in the country.

They mentioned that the proposed Budget in some cases may have a negative effect on the individual category taxpayers. Panelists discussed at length on the proposal of imposing taxes on the Workers Profit Participation Fund (WPPF) on different organizations.

They expressed their concern that if this bill is passed, this will have a huge financial impact on businesses upon whom WPPF provisions of the Bangladesh labor laws are applicable. Speakers mentioned that this provision conflicts with section 244 of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 which allows deduction of the funds allocated to WPPF to arrive at a taxable income, and at the same time it will lead to a state of double taxation. It was pointed out that the Finance Minister mentioned that WPPF is payable from tax profit after tax which seems misleading to the actual treatment and philosophy of WPPF.

As per accounting principles, WPPF is payable from profit before tax. This will also put a negative impact on the FDI climate as potential foreign investors will be reluctant to invest due to this irrationality of double taxation. The discussants suggested restructuring corporate tax as well as the individual tax keeping in view our competitors to increase foreign investment to enable confidence among private investors. The speakers also recommended that the foreign and local investors be encouraged to invest in Bangladesh.

Among the discussants there were a good number of Chartered Secretaries (CS) present. They pointed out that they have the requisite capabilities to provide services in a single platform to promote ease of doing business, and recommended supporting local investors who invested in the industrial sectors. The versatile supports of the CS that include various compliance issues like Environment Clearance, Factory and Establishment License, TradeMark issues, BSTI License, RJSC related matters etc. Therefore businesses are to be encouraged in a wide scale to make use of the CS services including as VAT and Customs consultants.

The Panel Speakers present in the discussion were- Mr. M. Shahidul Haque, Former Senior Secretary, Government of Bangladesh, Prof. Dr. M. Harunur Rashid, President, Bangladesh Accounting Association, Mr. K. H. Masud Siddiqui, Former Secretary, Government of Bangladesh, Mr. Shahadat Hossain FCA, President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh, Mr. Hossain Sadat FCS, Director, Grameenphone, Mr. Akhter Matin Chaudhury FCS, FCA, Council Member of ICSB and Independent Director of UCB, Mr. Md Lutfor Rahman, Former Member, NBR, Mr. Md. Shamsul Kibria, Dr. Mohammad Abu Yusuf, Joint Secretary-Budget, Finance Division, Finance Ministry, Mr. Ujjal Bikash Dutta, Former Member, BPSC, Mr. Shish Hyder Chowdhury, Member of Tariff Commission of Bangladesh.

 

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