Double taxation avoidance deal with Iran effective in Jul

The agreement signed between Bangladesh and Iran to prevent double taxation and tax evasion and encourage cooperation between the two countries’ businesses will come into effect in Bangladesh from July 1 this year.

To this end, Internal Resources Division issued a gazette notification on March 29.

Earlier on October 8 last year, the National Board of Revenue chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem and his Iranian counterpart Davoud Manzour, head of Iranian National Tax Administration, signed the agreement in Tehran.

“The two parties have signed the agreement with the aim of boosting trade between the two countries and encouraging the private sectors of Iran and Bangladesh to cooperate with curbing tax evasion and reducing tax,” the agreement reads.

Under this agreement, both the countries will provide each other with some special tax benefits. The agreement will enable institutions, organisations or individuals to pay a reduced rate of tax while sending their money earned from Bangladesh to their home country.

Despite not having any major deals or any big kind of trade, there are bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Iran and trade balance is always positive for Bangladesh.

Bangladesh exported jute and jute goods worth around $11 million to Iran in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.

The data also showed that Bangladesh exported mostly jute and jute goods worth nearly $17 million to Iran in last FY while the country imported nominal amount of goods such as base metal, plastics and rubber from Iran.