Bangladesh exempts NBR-registered startups from VAT under SRO 147

What changed in detail

Bangladesh’s National Board of Revenue gazetted SRO No. 147-Ain/2026/352-Mushak on 7 June 2026, issued under section 126(1) of the Value Added Tax and Supplementary Duty Act 2012. It exempts NBR-registered startup establishments — as defined in Part 2 of the Eighth Schedule of the Income Tax Act 2023 — from VAT on (a) all locally chargeable VAT, (b) VAT on imported services, and (c) VAT on renting space and premises. Registered startups may keep tax records electronically through ERP or NBR-approved software, and any entity paying a registered startup is relieved of the usual obligation to withhold VAT at source on that payment. The exemption runs from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2035.

What it means

This is a long-horizon, nine-year exemption rather than temporary relief, so a startup that qualifies today can plan on it well past its early growth stage. The gate is NBR registration as a startup under the Income Tax Act’s Eighth Schedule — a Bangladeshi entity that has not gone through that registration gets none of this, however early-stage it otherwise looks.