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BTRC guideline now puzzles operators

Abdullah Mamun
Confusion has gripped mobile operators after the telecom regulator brought out some amendments to their licence renewal guideline.
The amended guideline says the operators will have to deposit all the charges to the regulator without deducting taxes at source.
The mobile companies now pay their charges after deducting money at source for VAT payment to the tax administrator.
The new move of the regulator, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, is conflicting with the National Board of Revenue's value added tax-related regulations.
According to an SRO (statuary regulation order) of the NBR published on August 18 this year, limited companies will have to deposit all payments, including charges and fees, after deducting 15 percent tax at source.
The BTRC has posted some of the amendments and the final licence renewal guideline at its website.
According to the amendments, the charges and fees will come from spectrum price, 5.5 percent revenue of gross income meant for sharing with the government and 1 percent revenue for social obligation fund.
Currently the operators pay 85 percent of the charges to the telecom regulator and the rest 15 percent to the tax administrator as VAT.
A commissioner of the BTRC said it will receive the total payable audited money without any kind of deduction. The VAT exemption or other tax related issues will be resolved by the NBR.
However, the telecom ministry Tuesday sat at a meeting with the law and
finance ministries, NBR and BTRC to resolve the problem, said a telecom ministry official.
He said the NBR will now clarify how the VAT will be collected, and the telecom ministry will provide the tax administrator with necessary documents.
Zakiul Islam, director of legal and regulatory affairs of Banglalink, said they are trying to get a clarification from the government on how to address the situation.
Mahtabuddin Ahmed, chief financial officer of Robi, said they are trying to meet the NBR chairman to have a clarification about the tax issues that he hoped would be addressed soon.
Kazi Monirul Kabir, chief communications officer of Grameenphone, said the telecom sector is already heavily taxed as 50 percent of its income goes to the government as tax.
The total tax regime of the telecom sector should be reviewed, he said.
Some officials said spectrum assignment does not add any value, so it cannot be under the VAT regime.
They also said VAT is basically paid by consumers or subscribers, while business entities work as medium only.
So such charges should be kept away of any VAT, they said.
The telecom ministry finalised the renewal guideline earlier this month and sent it to the BTRC for publication after taking approval from Prime Minister's Office and the finance ministry.
But the regulator published the guideline with some changes that created confusion.
Later the operators discussed with the telecom ministry about the changes. The BTRC then amended the guideline but again those have created confusion.