No tax on mobile SIM cards

The government is moving forward to propose to completely withdraw the existing Tk300 tax on mobile SIM cards in the upcoming budget. 

Such an announcement may be made in the budget proposal for the 2026-27 fiscal year to be presented in the National Parliament on Thursday in order to make mobile services more accessible to the common people of the country.

According to sources in the ministry of finance, the government wants to make ICT the highest priority sector. And for this, it is going to take a comprehensive initiative to reform tax, VAT and licensing policies in this sector. 

Currently, the tax rate in the telecom sector is about 50 percent and in the information technology sector it is about 25 percent. This tax rate in Bangladesh is much higher than in other countries of the world. In line with the world, the government has taken steps to gradually reduce taxes at a reasonable rate for the development of this sector.

According to sources, as part of this initiative of the government, the Tk300 tax imposed on each mobile SIM is going to be completely withdrawn to make mobile services more accessible to the common people of the country. 

However, the government has to give up a large amount of revenue in this. According to the National Board of Revenue (NBR), the tax withdrawal could reduce the revenue of the government by about Tk 1,200 crore in the next fiscal year.