The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has raised the limit of paid-up capital for taxicab business and relaxed the limit of the engine capacity to remove bottlenecks on taxicab businesses.
The board has increased the ceiling on paid-up capital from Tk 1.0 million to Tk 25 million to allow businesses to import cars as taxicabs enjoying a reduced tax benefit.
To this effect, the NBR has recently issued a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO), signed by its chairman Nojibur Rahman.
In the SRO, the customs wing has reduced cc limit of the cars to 1485cc from 1500cc in line with the taxicab guidelines of the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges.
Army-run Trust Transport Services and Toma Group have launched taxicab services in Dhaka and Chittagong with the taxicabs having the engine capacity ranging from 1500cc to 2000cc.
Toma Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mustafa Kamal hailed the decision as taxicab importers earlier faced problems getting customs clearance over CC limit below 1500cc.
"There are taxicabs slightly below 1500cc. The cars have been imported as taxicabs considering those under the required CC limit," he added.
Currently, some 200 taxicabs of Toma group are plying the road.
Mr Kamal, however, preferred higher CC slab for taxicabs to ensure comfort of the passengers.
Taxicab importers enjoy tax benefit on import of cars in compliance with some conditions set by the customs. The government has waived all import duties above 20 per cent on import of taxicabs to promote the sector.
They enjoy a reduced rate of 20 per cent import duty, including customs duty (CD), supplementary duty (SD) and regulatory duty (RD).
At present, commercial importers of reconditioned cars are paying 131 per cent taxes and customs duty.
Actual tax benefit for taxicab importers is around 65 per cent compared to that of the commercial importers of used cars. Private or public limited companies having Taxpayers Identification Number (TIN) and minimum paid-up capital worth Tk 25 million will be entitled to import cars as taxicabs.
However, the imported cars will have to be registered as 'taxicabs' in the name of the importing companies or the financing banks or leasing companies.
The importing companies, the banks or the leasing companies have to give a guarantee to the customs authorities on the payment of total tax/duty in case of misuse of the tax benefit.
Customs rules allow import of 10 taxicabs at a time in a consignment. Importers have to give an 'assurance letter' on not to use the taxicabs for other purposes.
Under the rules, the customs authorities will have to send the relevant documents directly to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) for registration. But BRTA will not be able to re-register a taxicab as private car without approval from the customs wing.
Taxicabs can be reregistered as private cars upon fulfilling some conditions from the date of registration through payment of 20 per cent of the actual import taxes that have been enjoyed for importing a taxicab.
doulot_akter@yahoo.com
Ceiling on paid-up capital for taxicab business rises
FE Report | Published: February 02, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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