NBR rejects REHAB’s bid to use undisclosed money

National Board of Revenue chairman has rejected proposal of the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh to allow use of undisclosed money in housing sector by paying low tax. At a pre-budget discussion on Wednesday at NBR headquarters in the capital, REHAB leaders argued that easing restrictions on undeclared funds could help revive the sluggish real estate sector. They also proposed reducing existing registration costs for flat or apartment sales, as well as providing special incentives to develop a secondary housing market. However, NBR chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan dismissed the proposal outright, making it clear that the government was moving away from decades of accommodating tax evasion through special provisions. ‘We have been in this culture for 55 years, not anymore,’ he said. He emphasised that with the availability of formal remittance channels and government incentives, expatriates had no justification for keeping funds undeclared. According to him, any such ...