The National Board of Revenue (NBR) on Sunday launched a new facility allowing large corporate tax and VAT payments through mobile financial service provider bKash, as part of its broader push to digitise revenue collection in Bangladesh, officials said.
The service was formally inaugurated at NBR headquarters in Dhaka by Md Abdur Rahman Khan, Secretary of the Internal Resources Division and Chairman of the NBR, who said the move marks a significant step in modernising how tax liabilities are settled.
Two real-time, high-value transactions have already been completed on the platform, demonstrating its capacity to process large payments securely and efficiently, Rahman Khan said at the event. He told reporters the initiative aligns with the revenue board’s goal of fully digitising tax payments.
“We want all tax payments to be digital,” Rahman Khan said, adding that digital transactions ensure real-time settlement, greater accuracy, transparency and lower risk.
While individuals have long been able to pay smaller amounts through mobile financial services and card systems, corporate tax payments often involve very large sums, sometimes between Tk100 crore and Tk400 crore. Allowing such payments through digital wallets and merchant accounts will significantly ease compliance for large taxpayers, he said.
The new system will be open to all licensed mobile financial service providers, including Nagad, Rocket, CellFin and Upay. Rahman Khan said there are no regulatory obstacles from Bangladesh Bank or the Ministry of Finance to implementing the facility.
Highlighting the broader benefits of digital transformation, the NBR chairman said shifting away from cash would reduce risks such as theft and fraud and cut the high cost of printing currency, which he said amounts to around Tk20,000 crore annually.
He also emphasised strengthening the electronic tax deducted at source (e-TDS) system to align withheld taxes more closely with actual liabilities through automatic data integration with banks and tax returns. The NBR plans to link banking systems with online income tax returns so that key data—such as interest income, deducted tax and closing balances—can be auto-filled, reducing errors and under-reporting.
Rahman Khan reiterated the need to phase out manual challans and outdated payment codes and announced upcoming reforms, including automated bulk withholding tax payments and a common VAT software for small businesses linked directly to the e-VAT system.
“Full digitisation will reduce tax evasion, eliminate fake challans and improve governance,” he said, adding that it would ultimately help raise Bangladesh’s tax-to-GDP ratio.
