The National Board of Revenue (NBR; ) is the central authority for tax administration in Bangladesh. It is a statutory authority attached with the Internal Resources Division of the Ministry of Finance. The NBR collects almost 97% of tax revenue and almost 85% of total revenue for the Bangladesh government.
The finance ministry proposed dissolving the NBR and creating two ministerial divisions—the Revenue Management Division and the Revenue Policy Division—through a hastily promulgated ordinance in 2025. The ordinance drew criticism from Transparency International Bangladesh, which denounced the move as executive capture of the revenue sector. TIB stated that the move risked politicizing the revenue sector, undermined the autonomy of the revenue service, and reduced accountability, transparency, and neutrality. Debapriya Bhattacharya of the Centre for Policy Dialogue also criticized the move on similar grounds.
History The National Board of Revenue was established in 1972 through the National Board of Revenue Order, 1972. Later, the structure of the National Board of Revenue was amended through Act No 12 of 2009. The Customs, Excise and VAT Appellate Tribunal was a tribunal under the National Board of Revenue established in 1995.
The National Board of Revenue provided carnet de passage for tourists despite Bangladesh not being a signatory to the relevant United Nations treaties. From 2018, the National Board of Revenue started to sought taxes from Facebook, Google, and YouTube following requests by Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh.
On 25 April 2025, the interim government issued a presidential ordinance to restructure the board. The ordinance, which states that the existing NBR will be dissolved and replaced by two new divisions under the Ministry of Finance, one being the Revenue Policy Division (RPD) and another being the Revenue Management Division (RMD). Accordingly on 13 May 2025, the government dissolved NBR and split into two RPD and RMD, through Revenue Policy and Revenue Management Ordinance, 2025. According to the ordinance, where RPD's work would be to monitor the implementation of tax laws and the tax collection situation, the RMD's work would be to collect revenues. The ordinance stated that existing personnel of NBR would be absorbed into RMD. Officers of Income Tax and Customs cadres protested the discussion and called for revocation. However, the ordinance has not yet been implemented due to strong opposition, and the government is now considering amendments to the proposal.
On 29 June 2025, the Port of Chittagong, Bangladesh's largest shipping terminal, closed due to a strike by NBR employees protesting against the agency's splitting. The port reopened the next day following negotiations between the strikers and the finance ministry.
Structure The NBR had one chairperson and eight members - four for direct tax and four for indirect tax. The secretary of internal resources division acted as the ex-officio chairman of the board. There were 45 departments/directorates under the NBR, of which 25 were related to direct tax and 20 related to indirect tax.
List of chairmen +No.NameStart dateEnd dateRef1.Nurul Islam28 January 197210 March 19722.Kofil Jddin Mahmud11 March 197212 October 19733.M. Wazed Ali Khan12 October 197319 March 19744.K. M. Moshraff Hossain19 March 197414 February 19805.A. K. Azizul Haque14 February 198031 December 19826.S. B. Chowdhury1 January 198313 July 19877.A. K. M. Aminul Haque Chowdhury14 July 19871 July 19898.Ekram Hossain1 July 198931 July 19909.A. K. M. Aminul Haque Chowdhury1 August 199030 December 199210.Nurul Husain Khan19 January 199129 April 199211.A. K. M. Mosiur Rahman2 May 199212 February 199312.Akbar Ali Khan18 February 199327 November 199513.Sadat Hussain27 November 199512 February 199714.Shah Abdul Hannan12 February 199715 February 199815.Saiful Islam Khan15 February 199815 March 199816.A. K. M. Mosiur Rahman15 March 19985 August 199817.Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury5 August 199831 July 200018.Zakir Ahmed Khan1 August 200010 July 200119.Shoaib Ahmed10 July 20019 September 200320.Khairuzzaman Chowdhury9 September 20036 July 200621.Md. Abdul Karim9 July 20066 December 200622.A. F. M. Solaiman Chowdhury10 December 200628 December 200623.Sheikh A. K. Motahar Hossain9 January 200722 January 200724.Badiur Rahman23 January 200722 October 200725.Muhammad Abdul Mazid22 October 20078 April 200926.Nasiruddin Ahmed8 April 200929 October 201227.Ghulam Hussain29 October 20128 January 201528.Md. Nojibur Rahman12 January 201531 December 201729.Md. Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan4 January 20182 January 201830.Abu Hena Md. Rahmatul Muneem6 January 202014 August 202431.Md Abdur Rahman Khan15 August 2024Present
See also Income Tax Intelligence and Investigation Unit
References
External links