ISPAB serves legal notice to NBR over imposition of VAT on internet
It is learned that if they do not get any solution from the NBR, they will file a petition before the court.
The Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) has served a legal notice to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) over the imposition of 5 percent and 15 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) in the sector.
The notice was submitted to the NBR at the end of last month, MA Hakim, president of the ISPAB, confirmed it to The Business Standard.
"We have not got any response from the NBR yet. However, we are still hopeful about the withdrawal of the VAT rates as a meeting is scheduled to be held in the last week of this month," said MA Hakim.
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It is learned that if they do not get any solution from the NBR, they will file a petition before the court.
The government has imposed a 15 percent VAT on value chain services, such as the International Terrestrial Cable (ITC), International Internet Gateway (IIG) and Nationwide Telecommunication Transmission Network (NTTN), and 5 percent on ISPAB internet in the new budget.
Because of this, the price of fixed broadband internet is likely to go up by 30-40 percent at the consumer level.
The association, therefore, urged the government to review the current VAT rate on internet and bring it down to zero or 5 percent on all the services of internet infrastructure companies.
