National Board of Revenue

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) (জাতীয় রাজস্ব বোর্ড) is the Central Authority for Tax Administration in Bangladesh. It is a Statutory Authority attached with the Internal Resources Division of Ministry of Finance. NBR is the Authority for Tax Policies and Tax Laws in Bangladesh. NBR collects almost 97% of Tax Revenue and almost 85% of total Revenue for the Government of Bangladesh.

The Customs, Excise and VAT Appellate Tribunal is a tribunal under the National Board of Revenue established in 1995.

History
The National Board of Revenue was established in 1972 through the National Board of Revenue Order, 1972. Later, the structure of the National Board of Revenue was amended through Act No 12 of 2009.

Chairman of the National Board of Revenue, Badiur Rahman, retired following his transfer by the caretaker government which he said was due to his failure to please his masters in October 2007.

The National Board of Revenue provided Carnet de Passage for tourists despite Bangladesh not being a signatory to the relevant United Nations treaties.

In February 2018, Bangladesh High Court ordered the National Board of Revenue to unfreeze the accounts of Robi. The National Board of Revenue raised 124.4 billion BDT from taxes on fuel. The National Board of Revenue sought taxes from Facebook, Google, and YouTube following requests by Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh.

The server of the National Board of Revenue was breached in 2022 to release cargo in Chittagong Port.

In October 2023, the National Board of Revenue failed to impress the International Monetary Fund with its plan to raise taxes. The National Board of Revenue has around ten thousand cases in courts concerning 215 billion BDT in taxes.

Structure
The NBR has one chairperson and eight members - Four for direct tax and four for indirect tax. The secretary of internal resources division acts as the ex-officio chairman of the board. There are 45 departments/directorates under the NBR, of which 25 are related to direct tax and 20 related to indirect tax.