BAT Bangladesh again honoured as highest taxpayer

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has honored BAT Bangladesh as the highest taxpayer for the fiscal year 2020-21.

BAT Bangladesh received this prestigious award at a ceremony held at Dhaka Regency Hotel in the capital on Sunday, 12 December.

Commissioner of LTU-VAT Wahida Rahman Chowdhury handed over the awards to the highest taxpaying companies.

The accolade was received by Shehzad Munim, Managing Director, and Sheikh Shabab Ahmed, Head of External Affairs of BAT Bangladesh.

In fiscal year 2020-21, BAT Bangladesh deposited around BDT 25,000 crore to the National Exchequer as Value Added Tax (VAT) and Supplementary Duty (SD).

VAT is the largest source of internal revenue. In the aforementioned fiscal year, the NBR collected around BDT 97,000 crore as Value Added Tax out of which, LTU-VAT alone collected around BDT 49,000 crore (more than 50% of total VAT collection).

BAT Bangladesh contributed more than half of LTU-VAT’s total revenue. Besides VAT, the company deposited around BDT 900 crore as income tax.

Altogether, the company contributes almost 10% of total internal revenue of the country, by far the largest by any company.

While receiving the award, Shehzad Munim, Managing Director of BAT Bangladesh said, “The LTU-VAT has gone through a massive change in the last two years. A remarkable working relationship has developed between taxpayers and the LTU which is a positive sign for the country. Under the leadership of current commissioner, the institution is proving itself to be a solution giver to the taxpayers. A healthy relationship between taxpayers and tax collectors will only take the country forward which is what we are witnessing now.”