The proposed budget for FY 2022-23 exempts new entrepreneurs from all types of reporting except income tax returns. It has been proposed to reduce the turnover tax rate. The proposal also includes adjusting the startup company’s losses for up to 9 years.
The proposals were presented by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in an audio-visual budget proposal tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
Exports from the ICT sector have already surpassed $ 1.4 billion, according to the proposal, entitled Development of Hi-Tech Parks and Development of Startup Culture. According to the government’s future plan, this income will increase to $ 5 billion by 2025. 2022 has been declared as the year of ICT products to diversify exports.
In his budget speech, the finance minister said, “The present age is the age of information and communication technology (ICT). The government is giving utmost importance to the ICT sector. In order to make the government’s dream of building a digital Bangladesh multidimensional, startup initiatives need to be expanded by providing special incentives. Therefore, in order to expand the business through competition in the international arena, I am proposing to lift the spending restriction on startup entrepreneurs and increase the turnover tax rate to 0.1% instead of 0.6%.”
Proposing to prioritize ICT-based initiatives as a medium-term policy strategy, the minister said the process of creating skilled manpower in overseas employment would continue. Through these initiatives, we will be able to increase the resilience of employment to GDP, which will contribute to the reduction of income inequality as a whole.