The existing 11-digit Business Identification Number (BIN) will be considered invalid from today (Sunday), officials of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) said.
From July 01, all the existing businesses will have to use the new electronic BIN (e-BIN) for carrying out export-import and other business activities.
Obtaining BIN is mandatory for all types of VAT (Value Added Tax)-registered businesses as per the VAT law-1991.
So far, some 110,000 businesses obtained the nine-digit e-BIN out of the existing 840,000 BIN holders.
However, currently both old and new BIN are accepted for conducting foreign trade and other commercial activities.
Talking to the FE Saturday, VAT policy member Md Rezaul Hasan said the pace of obtaining new BIN has so far been slow.
"Many businesses are still in confusion over the continuation of validity of old BIN. The government extended the deadline for using old BIN several times," he said.
The NBR had extended the validity of old BIN three times.
At first, the board had decided to make new BIN mandatory from January 01, 2018.
Later, the time was extended up to March 31, 2018.
The last deadline for validity of old BIN was June 30, 2018.
Officials said now a large number of businesses will have to obtain the new BIN to continue their business activities, incl-uding exports, imports, opening letters of credit and participation in tenders.
The VAT member also expressed his optimism over the significant rise in new BIN holders after scrapping the validity of old BINs.
Officials said many businesses are holding multiple old BINs.
The actual number of old BIN holders is much below than that of the existing figure.
Officials said the NBR had extended the validity of old BINs by issuing a public notice.
However, businesses alleged that the field-level VAT officials did not inform them about the expiry of the validity of old BINs.
"Many of the small businesses are not aware of the issue. The NBR issued the public notice three months ago," said Solaiman Parsee, a member of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).
A number of businesses that are under package VAT system have not obtained the new BIN yet, he added.
The NBR should launch awareness campaign before making the old BIN invalid, he added.
He said most of the importers and large businesses are using e-BINs, Mr Parsee said.
The tax authorities started issuing the new BINs online from March 17, 2017.
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