15 percent Value Added Tax (MUSAC) or VAT is going to be levied on Metrorail tickets from July this year. There is currently a VAT exemption on Metrorail tickets, which will expire on June 30. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has given the facility from December 28, 2022. But the company is canceling the VAT exemption after June.
This information is known from the source of the letter sent to the managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited. The second secretary of NBR’s VAT department, Barrister Md. The letter signed by Badruzzaman Munsi was sent to the Managing Director of DMTCL.

According to the letter, VAT exemption on metro rail tickets will expire on June 30. However, DMTCL requested NBR to extend the period. But the review of the Board of Revenue shows that according to the Vision 2041, various development activities are underway in the country with the goal of joining the ranks of developed countries.
The government has to constantly provide money to carry out those development activities, which is mainly collected through direct and indirect taxes. Tax exemptions are provided from time to time in various fields with the aim of development of domestic industries, increase in production capacity of import substitute products, development of small and cottage industries etc.

Capabilities of various sectors are being considered with the objective of graduating the country from LDCs and raising the tax-GDP ratio to desired levels, while continuing to finance the massive development drive. That is why tax exemption benefits are being gradually withdrawn from various sectors. That is, the area of tax exemption is being narrowed.

In this situation, NBR is notifying the disqualification of re-exempting VAT on Metrorail services from December 28, 2022 to June 30, 2024.