On condition of cashless transactions, ITS will get tax holiday for 3 years

19 types of business activities in IT and Telecom are getting tax holiday for 3 years under the condition of going cashless in the financial year 2024-25. Finance Minister Abul Hasan Mahmud Ali gave this information while presenting the proposed budget in the budget session of the National Assembly on Thursday.

After the beginning of the session, he said in the budget proposal titled 'Pledge to build a happy, prosperous, developed and smart Bangladesh', 'As a supporter of building a smart Bangladesh, I propose to exempt the tax for 3 years irrespective of the resident or non-resident Bangladeshi citizens, under the condition of running businesses, and all business activities of that person should be cashless from any of the following.

According to the budget speech as read, these 19 businesses are AI based solution development; Blockchain Based Solution Development; Robotics Process Outsourcing; Software as a Service; Cyber ​​Security Services; Digital Data Analytics & Data Science; mobile application development services; software development and customization; Software Test Lab Services; Web Listing, Website Development & Services; IT support and software maintenance services; Geographic Information Services; Digital Animation Development; digital graphics design; digital data entry and processing; e-learning platforms and e-publications; IT Freelancing; call center services; Document conversion, imaging and digital archiving.

Businesses that will not benefit from tax holiday in future include Nationwide Telecommunication Transmission Network (NTTN), IT process outsourcing, website hosting, search engine optimization services, cloud services and system integration.

As an emerging and promising sector, the government has been providing tax holiday to IT sector since 2011. The facility was supposed to expire in the financial year 2020-21. However, the government later extended the facility till June 2024.

Since the beginning of this year, sector-related individuals have been demanding the continuation of tax exemptions in the IT sector as well.

Earlier, 27 businesses in the ICT sector had the benefit of tax exemption. Many of the 19 businesses that will receive tax exemptions in the future were on this list. Welcoming the government's decision, Fahim Mashroor, former president of BASIS and chief executive officer of BdJobs, said, 'We are happy that we have been able to convince NBR. The government has extended tax holiday for another three years on the condition of running the business cashless. The sectors which are exempted from tax are okay.

Many have been getting this benefit for so long without providing IT or ITS services, it will no longer be there. Now it is the responsibility of the people involved in the sector to carry out their business properly. Besides, everyone will expect the ecosystem to develop in such a way that tax exemption is no longer necessary in the future.