50% penalty for trade based money laundering, tax evasion
Transparency International Bangladesh reported that some Tk26,400 crore is being illegally remitted from Bangladesh every year, which deprives the government exchequer of around Tk12,000 crore as revenue
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has proposed a new income tax provision which will inflict 50 percent tax on trade-based money laundering and tax evasion.
During his budget for FY2020-21 speech on Thursday, he said that there has been widespread allegation of money laundering and tax evasion through under-invoicing, over-invoicing and declaration of false investment.
Affirming the government's zero tolerance for such misdeeds, the minister said, "I propose to insert a new section in the Income Tax Ordinance to put a rein on such tendencies besides all other existing laws in this regard.
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"I hope that the proposed provision will be highly effective in curbing money laundering and tax evasion," he added.
According to a research of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management, "80 percent trade-based money laundering in the country occurred through under-invoicing and over-invoicing."
However, there is no statistical documentation of money laundering in the country.
Transparency International Bangladesh reported that some Tk26,400 crore is being illegally remitted from Bangladesh every year. This syphoning has been depriving the government exchequer of around Tk12,000 crore as revenue each year, according to the report.
