The government is going to offer a 4% incentive to freelancers shortly, if they work on online marketplace platforms. For this, a list of marketplaces is being compiled. This list contains the names of 106 freelancer marketplaces. The list has been sent to the organizations concerned in the ICT sector and the list will be finalized based on their feedback. A meeting will be held on Monday (November 29) in this regard, sources said.
However, at a meeting held at the office of the Digital Security Agency on November 18, the names of these freelancer marketplaces were proposed from BASIS and e-Cab. At the meeting, e-Cab General Manager Jahangir Alam Shovon, who participated in the meeting, said that in addition to the overall cooperation in this work, some supplementary proposals were also offered.
He said that the members of Bangladesh Freelancer Development Society (BFDS) will get this incentive facility in the first phase. However, the member must have a freelancer ID card. In addition, the National Skills Development Authority (NSDA) has taken the initiative to list the names of freelancers by taking a test in a 7-step syllabus to give freelancer ID cards to those who are there. After listing the names of freelancers on the basis of examination, this incentive will be given based on their income.
According to sources, the list includes Upwork, Fiber, Freelancer, People Per Hour, Guru, Toptal, Flexjob, 99 Designs, Invato Studio, Rev, CG Trader, Design Crowd, Proz, Codmentor, DesignHill, Burke, We Work Remotely, Click Worker, Crowd Spring, Golance, Scribendi, Scribe, Archdev, Topcoder, Task Rabbit, Work Market, TranslatorCafe, COClarks, Contently, Design Contest, Scripted, ExPlace, Freelance Writing, Writers’ Work, Hours Logo and so on.
When Bangladesh Freelancer Development Society (BFDS) Secretary General Mahfuz Ahmed was called, he did not immediately agree to comment. He suggested contacting by e-mail or directly.
In this regard, a directive was issued last September by Bangladesh Bank against the export of software and ITES services for individual-level freelancers quoting FE Circular No. 3, the Department of Information and Communication Technology has ensured repatriation of income earned from the recognized online marketplace is brought under the subsidy. For this, it is required to be a member of the exporting organization concerned to the Ministry of Commerce or to be certified by the ICT department. In this case, the rules for applying are fixed within 360 days of the export price refund.
