Business Report :
Individual investors’ capital gains from stocks will not be taxed, said Professor Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam, chairman of The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC).
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) prescription to tax individual investors’ capital gains from listed securities, among many others, would not be possible to implement in the present context of Bangladesh, he said while talking to representatives of the Capital Market Journalists Forum (CMJF) at his office on Tuesday.
“I had talks with the National Board of Revenue (NBR), and they informed me that the capital gains tax would not be imposed on individual investors,” the BSEC chairman said.
The IMF suggested that Bangladesh cut tax exemptions, including those related to the capital market.
For instance, people receive some tax rebates against their investments in the stock market, and income from zero-coupon bonds is tax-waived for investors other than banks and financial institutes. In addition, individual investors and mutual funds do not have to pay tax on their capital gains from listed securities.
On the occasion of his reappointment as the BSEC chairman, the chief securities regulator also told journalists that the commission would move away from the practices of taking care of market indices or initial public offerings. Instead, stock exchanges as the primary regulator would increase their efforts for better outcomes.
“I will try to help accelerate ongoing economic development with the help of the capital market,” he said, adding that bond financing is gaining momentum and should be more robust.