National Board of Revenue

The National Board of Revenue (NBR; Bengali: জাতীয় রাজস্ব বোর্ড) is the central authority for tax administration in Bangladesh. It is a statutory authority attached with the Internal Resources Division of the Ministry of Finance. The NBR collects almost 97% of tax revenue and almost 85% of total revenue for the Bangladesh government. The finance ministry proposed dissolving the NBR and creating two ministerial divisions—the Revenue Management Division and the Revenue Policy Division—through a hastily promulgated ordinance in 2025. The ordinance drew criticism from Transparency International Bangladesh, which denounced the move as executive capture of the revenue sector. TIB stated that the move risked politicizing the revenue sector, undermined the autonomy of the revenue service, and reduced accountability, transparency, and neutrality. Debapriya Bhattacharya of the Centre for Policy Dialogue also criticized the move on similar grounds. History The National Board of Revenue was established in 1972 through the National Board of Revenue Order, 1972. Later, the structure of the National Board of Revenue was amended through Act No 12 of 2009. The Customs, Excise and VAT Appellate Tribunal was a tribunal under the National Board of Revenue established in 1995. The National Board of Revenue provided carnet de passage for tourists despite Bangladesh not being a signatory to the relevant United Nations treaties. From 2018, the National Board of Revenue started to sought taxes from Facebook, Google, and YouTube following requests by Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh. On 25 April 2025, the interim government issued a presidential ordinance to restructure the board. The ordinance, which states that the existing NBR will be dissolved and replaced by two new divisions under the Ministry of Finance, one being the Revenue Policy Division (RPD) and another being the Revenue Management Division (RMD). Accordingly on 13 May 2025, the government dissolved NBR and split into two RPD and RMD, through Revenue Policy and Revenue Management Ordinance, 2025. According to the ordinance, where RPD's work would be to monitor the implementation of tax laws and the tax collection situation, the RMD's work would be to collect revenues. The ordinance stated that existing personnel of NBR would be absorbed into RMD. Officers of Income Tax and Customs cadres protested the discussion and called for revocation. However, the ordinance has not yet been implemented due to strong opposition, and the government is now considering amendments to the proposal. On 29 June 2025, the Port of Chittagong, Bangladesh's largest shipping terminal, closed due to a strike by NBR employees protesting against the agency's splitting. The port reopened the next day following negotiations between the strikers and the finance ministry. Structure The NBR had one chairperson and eight members - four for direct tax and four for indirect tax. The secretary of internal resources division acted as the ex-officio chairman of the board. There were 45 departments/directorates under the NBR, of which 25 were related to direct tax and 20 related to indirect tax. List of chairmen See also Income Tax Intelligence and Investigation Unit References External links Media related to National Board of Revenue at Wikimedia Commons Official website