Parliament has slashed the proposed capital gains tax on individuals’ gold sales to 5 per cent from the 15 per cent initially proposed in the budget while introducing a new weight-based value-added tax (VAT) regime for gold, silver, platinum and diamond jewellery under the Finance Act.
The changes were approved on Monday when Parliament passed the Finance Bill with amendments, including those responding to concerns from the jewellery industry over the draft tax proposals.
In Bangladesh, a large number of taxpayers disclose inherited gold ownership, but the value is “unknown”.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) to streamline it proposed the tax on encashment.
The government also introduced a new specific VAT structure based on the type and quantity of precious metals and stones, replacing value-based assessments for jewellery.
VAT has been fixed at Tk2,500 per bhori on gold and gold jewellery, Tk100 per bhori on silver and silver jewellery, Tk2,500 per bhori on platinum and platinum jewellery and Tk2,500 per gram on diamonds and diamond jewellery.
The Finance Act also introduced a 0.5 per cent withholding tax on the purchase value of gold, silver, platinum and diamonds at the seller level.
