Restaurant owners have demanded a reduction in value-added tax (VAT) on sales of all hotels and restaurants to 3 percent in the upcoming fiscal 2022-23.
Now it is 10 percent on air-conditioned restaurants and 7.5 percent on non-air-conditioned restaurants.
The Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association also demanded separate NBR units for VAT, setting up one-stop service centres for restaurants and granting industry status to hotels and restaurants.
Secretary general of the organisation Imran Hasan placed the demands to the government at a budget discussion meeting with National Board of Revenue Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem at the NBR headquarters in Dhaka on Thursday.
Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association president Osman Gani and other senior leaders and senior NBR officials were present at the meeting.
Imran Hasan said EFD machines should be installed in all types of restaurants to ensure 100 percent collection of VAT from this sector.
He said tax officials are filing cases or otherwise harassing restaurant owners for delaying VAT payments for reasons such as sickness.
Imran Hasan said the VAT on restaurant space or establishment should be 0 percent. In the case of income tax assessment, restaurant owners have to pay up to 35 to 40 percent of their profit as VAT now, he complained.
