Imposing additional taxes along with legal measures for the companies employing unauthorised foreign nationals the government will also bring the foreign nationals under tax net soon, the finance minister said Thursday in his budget speech.
He proposed imposition of a 50 per cent additional tax or Tk 0.5 m (whichever is higher) for the companies employing unauthorised foreign nationals.
Besides, the minister has proposed cancellation of tax holiday and other tax exemption facilities along with prosecution and punishment for the unscrupulous entities engaged in such unlawful acts.
"I propose to impose 50 per cent additional tax or Tk. 5 lakh (whichever is higher) for the persons employing unauthorised foreign nationals. I also propose cancellation of tax holiday and other tax exemptions facilities along with prosecution and punishment for these unscrupulous entities engaged in such unlawful acts," said the minister.
He said despite the existence of large unemployment amongst our eligible workforce, a large number of foreign nationals are being employed in our country most of whom are not in tax net. We have already started registering foreign nationals working in our country and they will be brought under tax net soon.
According to the data of Special Branch (SB) office, nearly 0.4m foreigners now work in the country and more than 0.1m of them do not have any work permit.
Most of the foreigners hailing from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are dominating different service sectors. A significant number of foreigners hailing from China, South Korea, Palestine, Ghana, Nigeria and Taiwan are also residing in Bangladesh.
The outbound payments went up by more than 16 per cent to US$ 3.48 billion during the last July-December period from that of the corresponding period a year earlier, according to the sources.
The country's media many times reported that a number of firms were involved in money laundering by employing such type of foreigners.
According to Board of Investment (BoI), only around 12,000 foreign nationals are doing jobs in Bangladesh with work permits from the board.
A few thousands more foreigners are working in the country with permission from the Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority.
But there is no official figure on the number of foreign nationals working illegally in the country.
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