The banking sector has been leading the Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

Among the top 10 corporate taxpayers, six are private commercial banks in the immediate past fiscal year (2019-20), the latest NBR statistics show.
According to the statistics, corporate tax payment by Grameenphone, Islami Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, BRAC Bank, Dutch-Bangla Bank, MetLife, Square Pharmaceuticals, National Bank Limited and Southeast Bank increased in the last fiscal.

However, tax payment by another top taxpayer British American Tobacco Bangladesh decreased. But the tobacco company was in the second position.

A tax official said strengthening monitoring and motivational activities for paying tax for the state brings this positive result. The corporate tax payment by large taxpayers increased by 15.37 percent in the just concluding fiscal year despite the coronavirus outbreak, NBR said.

Top 10 corporate taxpayers paid Tk 64.54 billion, which is 32.10 percent of the total collection of the unit (LTU).

Last year, top 10 corporate taxpayers paid a total of Tk 56.03 billion to the public exchequer.

Former chairman of the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh Syed Mahbubur Rahman told the daily sun that banks contributed the higher amount of taxes as both operating profits of some banks and deposits increased during the period.
Mahbubur Rahman, also managing director and chief executive officer of Mutual Trust Bank Limited, said deposits of Islami Bank crossed Tk 1.0 trillion until June 30, 2020 and it received new deposits worth Tk 55 billion in January-June period. The bank contributed much to tax payment.     

Dr Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute (PRI), said the natural growth of banks also contributed to the higher revenue, but 15.37 percent growth seems to be ‘surprising‘.

According to the NBR, Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited paid Tk 6.12 billion in FY 20 which was Tk 5.75 billion in the previous year.

Standard Chartered paid Tk 4.61 billion corporate tax which was Tk 4.57 billion in the previous fiscal year.

BRAC Bank paid Tk 3.27 billion in FY 20, which was Tk 2.97 billion in the previous fiscal.

Dutch-Bangla Bank paid Tk 2.92 billion, followed by MetLife at Tk 2.80 billion.

National Bank Limited paid Tk 2.69 billion in FY 20 against Tk 2.02 billion in FY 19.

However, operating profit of NBL went down to Tk 2.02 billion in January-July period against Tk 2.68 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Tax payment by Southeast Bank also increased to Tk 2.60 billion against Tk 1.67 billion in the previous fiscal year.

Operating profit of Southeast Bank in January-June period also declined to Tk 3.42 billion against Tk 5.06 billion in the corresponding period of FY’19.

Mobile phone operator Grameenphone paid the highest Tk 29.73 billion in tax in FY 20, up by Tk 5.66 billion from the corresponding period of the previous year.

British American Tobacco Bangladesh paid Tk 7.10 billion tax in the last fiscal against Tk 8.39 billion in the previous fiscal year.

Square Pharmaceuticals Limited paid Tk 2.69 billion against Tk 2.0 billion in the previous fiscal.