Bangladesh’s garment accessory makers recently sought renewal of various licences once every three years to help the industry save time and money. They also demanded suspension of corporate tax for three years, saying many factories remained closed or failed to resume operations due to non-payment from buyers and insufficient government financial support since March 2020.

All licences are mandatorily renewed every year now.

The accessories and packaging makers and exporters presented these demands to be included in the budget for the next fiscal at a pre-budget meeting with the National Board of Revenue (NBR), according to Bangla media reports.

Moazzem Hossain Moti, president of Bangladesh Garments Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said some 30 licences or certificates are needed to set up a factory.

If a three-year renewal cycle is allowed, the government benefit from receiving revenues in advance and the time and effort the industry spends on the renewal process could be saved, he said.

As buyers are not increasing prices of products, factories are operating only to keep running their businesses during the pandemic without making profits, he said, adding that in such a situation it was difficult to pay source tax for the factories.

Hence, the leaders of the association requested the government to reduce source tax to 0.25 per cent from the existing 0.5 per cent and fix the rate as final settlement for the next three years mainly to support the small and medium factories.

Their other demands included providing cash incentives, allowing sub-contracting facilities to 'deemed exporters' and implementing the NBR decision to allow the trade body to issue utilisation permission.

By Fibre2Fashion