New window soon to collect land tax from abroad, says minister

Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said that his ministry was launching a new window to facilitate direct land tax payments for Bangladeshi expatriates.
Describing the initiative as a crucial advancement in offering smart land services, he instructed the key officials of his ministry to streamline the process by creating timely and relevant guidelines.
"We aim to directly boost our revenue from overseas sources. Several individuals abroad have requested me to simplify the process of direct land tax payments," the minister stated.
The minister came up with the remarks and directions during a meeting of the ministry's sub-committee on smart land management held in the conference room at the Bangladesh Secretariat on Wednesday.
The minister also instructed the relevant land officials to ensure widespread awareness among Bangladeshi expatriates about the smart land services.
During the meeting, chaired by the minister and attended by Md. Khalilur Rahman, Secretary, Ministry of Land, several key initiatives were discussed, highlighting the Ministry of Land's' commitment to aligning it with the Smart Bangladesh vision across its four pillars: Smart Citizen, Smart Government, Smart Economy, and Smart Society.
In the first meeting of the sub-committee, some directives were issued for the payment of land development tax from abroad.
Almost 0.3 million (3 lakh) mutation cases were being resolved online every month, along with daily collection of land service fees worth Tk 60 million swiftly deposited with the public exchequer, the meeting was told. The meeting highlighted that even expatriates residing as far away as Venezuela and the United States were availing these land services.
The minister further directed the concerned officials to identify all areas related to Smart Bangladesh 2041 in view of land management.
He emphasised the need to identify objectives, challenges, possibilities, and actions in those areas.
He stressed formulation of short, medium, and long-term action plans, with a rigorous monitoring protocol implemented by the Ministry of Land in this context.

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