Tax collection from DSE halves in FY20

New Age

Staff Correspondent | Jul 08,2020

The government’s tax collection from the Dhaka Stock Exchange halved in the last fiscal year 2019-20 compared with that in the fiscal year 2018-19 as the market was mostly sluggish during the recently concluded fiscal year with closure of trading for 66 days in the wake of coronavirus outbreak.

The National Board of Revenue in FY20 received Tk 103.5 crore in tax from the DSE against its receipts of Tk 250.68 crore in FY19.

DSE officials said that the market remained dull during the first half of FY20 because of economic sluggishness in the country along poor governance in the capital market.

In the second half of FY20, coronavirus outbreak caused closure of trading on the bourse for 66 days and cut in trading hours for more than one month, hitting the government’s tax collection, they said.

As per the Income Tax Ordinance 1984, the DSE collects 0.05 per cent tax on turnover and 5 per cent tax on capital gains from share sales by sponsor-directors and placement holders.

In FY20, the revenue board received Tk 68.93 crore in tax on turnover against Tk 145.95 crore in the previous fiscal year.

The NBR received Tk 34.57 crore in tax on sponsor-directors’ capital gains in FY20, down from Tk 104.73 crore received in FY19.

The government’s tax collection from the capital market depends mainly on turnover and sponsor-directors’ capital gains from share sales, DSE officials said.

The total turnover at the bourse dropped by 46.63 per cent to Tk 78,024.37 crore in FY18 from Tk 1,46,193.04 crore in FY19.

The average daily turnover declined to Tk 381.61 crore in FY20 (203 trading days) from Tk 614.25 crore in FY19 (238 trading days).

The NBR collected Tk 257 crore in tax from DSE in FY18, Tk 282 crore in FY17, Tk 193.59 crore in FY16 and Tk 209 crore in FY15.