The government is considering a special tax amnesty in the upcoming national budget for fiscal year 2026-27 to allow individuals to legalise undisclosed money and assets held domestically and abroad, Ministry of Finance sources said.
Officials said the initiative aims to unlock idle capital, break stagnation in private sector investment, and channel funds into the mainstream economy. The budget is scheduled to be presented in Parliament on 11 June.
During pre-budget discussions in April, the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) urged the government to allow flat purchases without scrutiny of income sources, calling for the reinstatement of Section 19BBBBB of the Income Tax Ordinance to stimulate investment in the housing sector.
The facility to legalise untaxed income has a long history in Bangladesh, first introduced under martial law in 1975 and periodically extended by successive governments.
During the military-backed caretaker government in FY2007-08 and FY2008-09, Tk 9,683 crore was legalised. This record was surpassed in FY2020-21, when 11,839 individuals whitened Tk 20,500 crore at a 10 percent tax rate, generating Tk 2,064 crore in revenue for the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
Subsequent budgets offered similar amnesties. In FY2021-22 and FY2023-24, a 7.5 percent rate was offered to repatriate undisclosed offshore assets. In FY2024-25, a blanket opportunity allowed legalisation of undisclosed cash, stocks, and investments at 15 percent, with full immunity from legal scrutiny.
The interim government had initially proposed allowing investment of undisclosed funds in apartments and buildings in the last budget, but faced criticism from economists and civil society. The approach was modified by continuing the facility with higher tax rates based on property location and size.
Under that structure, taxes for flat purchases ranged from Tk100 to Tk 2,000 per square foot in Dhaka, Chattogram, other divisional cities and municipalities. For building constructions, the rate ranged from Tk 50 to Tk 900 per square foot.
NBR officials indicated that the upcoming policy may follow a structured approach, offering specific investment windows to legally integrate domestic and foreign undisclosed assets into the formal financial system.
Economists, however, cautioned that repeated amnesties create moral hazards. Several prominent economists noted that such measures place moral pressure on honest taxpayers, although they acknowledged that procedural complexities sometimes generate undisclosed money, particularly through remittance channels or sales of fixed assets.
