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Businesses can now claim VAT rebates on the submission of invoices against electricity bills paid through mobile financial services (MFS).
Earlier this month, the VAT department of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) issued a directive in this regard following the changes made by the government in the Financial Act in the last national budget.
As per instruction, the VAT authority will recognize the invoice for a rebate, issued by the MFS operator after payment of the electricity bill through the digital platforms, making the rebate process easier against electricity bills paid through MFS.
Prior to the changes in the Financial Act and the recent instructions by the national exchequer, invoices of MFS were not validated by the authorities.
Companies were only able to claim rebates with invoices issued by the relevant power department against payments of electricity bills.
Despite payments of electricity bills through MFS getting popular, there was no supporting law that allowed businesses to claim rebates using such channels.
“Prior to this move we did not accept MFS-based invoices as an official document other than the power department’s invoice upon which rebates can be claimed, but with the current law some companies such as bKash have become eligible on which businesses can claim VAT rebate on paying bills,” a senior official of NBR told Dhaka Tribune.
For example, if an organization pays the bill of the Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) through the MFS service provider ‘bkash’ using the Grameen phone wallet, the customer can take a rebate against the invoice.
“Using home-grown talent, state-of-the-art technology, inclusive financial ecosystem and a large distribution network, bKash has been playing a pioneering role in bringing digital financial services to the doorsteps of every citizen, while ensuring its compliance practice – abiding by stringent supervision and guidelines of the regulator, thus gaining credibility amongst all stakeholders,” Shamsuddin Haider Dalim, head of Corporate Communications of bKash told Dhaka Tribune.
“The MFS sector is one of those trailblazers that have contributed greatly to the fulfillment of the vision of Digital Bangladesh and such moves further ensure that the country remains in its growth trajectory,” he further added.
“Financial inclusion has been in the DNA of bKash since the very beginning. The impact we have been trying to have on the lives of millions of people would not be possible without such empowerment,” the top brass stated.
(DT)
