About 0.1 million businesses have taken 13-digit Business Identification Numbers (BINs) until Thursday through obtaining fresh one or updating their existing VAT registration number.
The deadline for obtaining and updating BIN is scheduled to expire tomorrow (November 30). Both the nine-digit e-BINs, issued before July 1, and 11-digit manual BINs will be obsolete after the deadline.
From December 1, the commercial banks will not be able to open letters of credit (L/Cs) for importers with old BINs, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) officials said.
Some 99,781 businesses obtained e-BIN until November 28, whereas the number was 69,000 until October 31.
The NBR VAT Online Project (VOP) Director Syed Mushfequr Rahman said the deadline for VAT registration will not be extended further.
He said there were a number of fake BINs in the previous database, which might not exist now.
Officials said no business entity will be able to use old BIN for export-import or other economic activities after expiry of the deadline. Businesses will have to obtain the 13-digit e-BIN within the deadline.
However, the NBR will allow importers to obtain fresh BIN or update their VAT registration number after expiry of the deadline - for importing items or conducting other business activities.
The NBR extended the deadline for updating VAT registration number thrice following requests of different business chambers.
On October 1, the VOP issued an instruction to all commercial banks for not opening LCs for importers without e-BIN after October 31.
Later, it extended the deadline until November 30 following request of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI). The apex chamber requested the NBR to consider the extension to avoid any adverse impact on businesses.
BIN is mandatory for all major business activities, including opening LCs and import-export. The NBR introduced online BIN from March 2017.
