Import duties on dates, mandarins, and apples cut ahead of Ramadan
PM Tarique Rahman presides over a cabinet meeting at the Secretariat on Sunday. Agamir Somoy.
The government has cut import duties on dates, mandarins, and apples ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.
BSS reported that the decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman at the Cabinet Division in the Secretariat, on Sunday.
In the case of date imports, the customs duty has been lessened from 25 percent to 5 percent. This will remain in effect until March 10.
Additionally, from January 24 to February 23, the total tax burdens on mandarin and apple imports have been set at 61 percent instead of the existing 121.78 percent.
The Internal Resources Division had proposed reducing the duties on these three fruits, which the Cabinet approved.
BSS also reported that the Cabinet gave principled and final approval to the draft of the "Value Added Tax and Supplementary Duty (Amendment) Act, 2026."
In the new draft, a provision has been added to the budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year relaxing the obligation to submit returns every month or every tax period, allowing returns to be submitted within 15 days of the end of every three tax periods or three months.
As Parliament was not in session, the "Value Added Tax and Supplementary Duty (Amendment) Ordinance, 2026" was issued on October 14 last year with the President's approval based on the Cabinet's approval.
It will now be approved by Parliament. For this reason, the draft of the "Value Added Tax and Supplementary Duty (Amendment) Act, 2026" was placed before the Cabinet.
