No tax on wheat imports

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has waived the advance income tax (AIT) on the import of common wheat varieties.

In this regard, NBR's Income Tax Wing published a gazette notification on December 9 after it found that traders had been importing common varieties of wheat, but declaring the item as ‘durum wheat’, to avoid the 5 percent AIT applicable for common wheat import. ‘Durum wheat’ – an upgraded type of the grain – had been enjoying zero-duty benefits on its import.

This misdeclaration by importers moved the tax authority to come up with the decision, meaning there will be no taxes, including AIT, on wheat imports, according to NBR.

However, the grains imported earlier will not be applicable for the waiver, it added.

Traditionally, Bangladesh depends on the import of wheat.

In fiscal 2019-20, it imported 64.34 lakh tonnes of wheat – 87 percent of its annual consumption of 74 lakh tonnes, as per statistics of the food ministry and the US Department of Agriculture.