Abstracto

Present scenario of gift tax in Bangladesh: contribution and prospect in the economy

Md. Rayhanul Islam, Nurul M Zayed

Gift tax is a direct tax in nature which is levied on the taxable gifts under Gift Tax Act-1990 that was adopted from Pakistani Gift Tax Act 1963 with some modifications in Bangladesh. In some countries gift tax and inheritance tax is one and the rate of inheritance tax depends on the closeness of the relationship. Gift consists of the extinction of one’s own property and the generation of another property, that can also be termed as present and Gift tax is paid on the gifted money or money’s worth. Gift tax is digressive in structure of tax rate. Generally up to Tk 20,000 of gifts is exempted from tax. The valuation of gifts should be made according to the rules prescribed in Gift Tax Act 1990. However gifts made to spouse and blood related persons like parents, own brothers and sisters and the gift of property situated outside Bangladesh are normally exempted from taxation. Moreover gifts made to charitable institutions are also exempted from taxation even government enjoys the power to exempt any gifts from taxation. Although there are provision and laws of gift tax, still the collection of tax revenue from this source is not mentionable but the scenario can be changed by taking necessary steps by the respective authorities.