Revenue board further slashed VAT on mild steel products

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has further slashed the value-added tax (VAT) on mild steel products and a number of raw materials for the steel sector to keep the prices of products stable and affordable.

The VAT wing of the NBR issued a statutory regulatory order last week in this regard.

According to the order, there would be specific VAT at Tk800 per tonne of ferro-manganese and ferro-silico-manganese alloy.

In early this year, the revenue board reduced the specific VAT at trading stage to Tk500 per tonne of MS products, including rod, from previous Tk1,000 per tonne considering the negative impacts of coronavirus on the steel and construction industry.

The NBR further slashed the VAT following the demand of industry insiders to reduce the cost of production as well as keep the prices of the products affordable to consumers, officials said.

The new measure would be applicable on local sales of MS rod, billet, ingot and other products, they said, adding that steelmakers were demanding to reduce the VAT on steel products.

The revenue board also set specific VAT on production of ferro-manganese, ferro-silico-manganese alloy and ferro-silicon alloy, which were raw materials for steel industry.

Previously Specific VAT for MS product produced from local or imported re-rollable scrap was Tk1,200 per tonne while the VAT rate was Tk2,000 per tonne for ingot or billet produced from meltable scrap and MS products produced from ingot or billet.

The government, on June 29 in the finally approved budget for the fiscal year 2019-20, reduced the VAT from the proposed figure of up to Tk2,000 per tonne.