The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has ordered Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus to pay Tk12 crore tax on donations to the National Bureau of Revenue (NBR) after dismissing a leave to appeal filed in this regard.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order on Sunday after hearing the appeal submitted by Dr Yunus against a High Court verdict.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin represented the state during the hearing, while Fida M Kamal and Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun stood for Dr Yunus.
The leave to appeal was filed against the High Court verdict earlier on June 21. On July 9, the chamber court set July 17 for a hearing in the Appellate Division.
On July 17, the Appellate Division adjourned till July 23 the hearing on the appeal.
According to the petition, NBR served three separate notices claiming Tk12,28,74,000 in taxes against Tk61.57 crore in donations in the 2011-2012 fiscal year, Tk1.60 crore in taxes against Tk8.15 crore in donations in FY 2012-2013 and Tk1.50 crore in taxes against Tk7 crore in donations in FY 2013-2014 in line with the Gift Tax Act.
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Dr Yunus challenged the validity of the NBR's notices and filed a case in the Appellate Division. According to him, NBR cannot claim taxes against donations according to the law.
On November 20, 2014, his application was rejected. Then in 2015, he filed three income tax reference cases in the High Court.
After that, the High Court ruled on May 31 that the taxes imposed by the NBR against the money that he had donated to three trusts were valid.
After the verdict on May 31, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told reporters that Dr Yunus had donated Tk77 crore to three institutions.
“The petitions were dismissed. Now the tax demanded by the NBR will have to be paid. The NBR had demanded more than Tk15 crore. He (Dr Yunus) has already paid around Tk3 crore. Now the remaining Tk 12 crore will have to be paid in taxes.”
