The mobile phone operators have implemented the 5% supplementary duty on all services as was proposed in the new budget, effective from Thursday, the same day the budget was placed in parliament.
The National Board of Revenue issued a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) shortly after Finance Minister AMA Muhith’s budget speech.
Receiving the SRO, the mobile operators immediately started updating their billing system, complying with the order.
Muhith on Thursday proposed imposing the supplementary duty on all mobile phone services – such as voice, data, short message services (SMS) and value-added services (VAS).
“As per the tax rule of the country, the supplementary duty is effective from yesterday [Thursday],” said Mahmud Hossain, chief corporate affairs officer at Grameenphone Ltd.
Under the new system, users will have to pay Tk20.75 as 15% VAT and 5% supplementary duty on Tk100 bill, whereas previously they only had to pay Tk15 as the VAT, sources said.
Users unhappy with additional duty
Terming the imposition of 5% supplementary duty a burden, several mobile phone users told the Dhaka Tribune that imposing an additional 5% duty on top of the existing 15% VAT was illogical.
They urged the government to withdraw the decision as a large number of people use a wide array of mobile services every day.
Many mobile industry insiders criticised the government’s decision as well, fearing it will badly impact the sector resulting in a fall in revenue.
“We are definitely concerned that this 5% supplementary duty may negatively affect our customers’ use patterns. This may hamper the spread of internet services, hence hamper the government’s own vision to create a digital Bangladesh,” said Sayed Talat Kamal, head of external communication at Grameenphone.
Ekram Kabir, vice-president at Robi Axiata Ltd, said: “The imposition of 5% supplementary duty on mobile services would be burdened on our valued subscribers, which may eventually dent the total revenue of the industry.”