Govt gets Tk 12.50cr in VAT from Facebook in 5 months

Social networking giant Facebook has paid Tk 12.50 crore in value added tax (VAT) in the last five months, which was the highest amount in foreign company category.

Facebook has earned the majority percent of money through publishing advertisements and it has deposited the money to the government treasury after deducting it at the rate of 15 percent.

The government brought the nonresident companies under the VAT net in May this year and several foreign companies have so far registered their names. These are Facebook, Google Asia Pacific, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Netflix.

However, three companies of Facebook have registered for VAT and these are: Facebook Ireland, Facebook Payment International and Facebook Technologies Ireland.

Earlier in July, the tech giant paid Tk 2.44 crore as VAT for the first time in Bangladesh, a month after its registration with the National Board of Revenue (NBR.)

Facebook acquired a business identification number (BIN) on June 13, following Google and Amazon as the NBR made it mandatory for all tech giants to either set up offices in Bangladesh or appoint agents.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a local agent of the Facebook has submitted the amount to the Dhaka South VAT Commissionerate.

Facebook Ireland, Facebook Payments International and Facebook Technologies Ireland paid Tk2,43,27,599, Tk24,070, and Tk25,006 respectively for the month of June.