The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The government is considering to exempt tax on donation and philanthropy to encourage companies and the wealthy sections to serve society.

Finance Adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam said this yesterday after awarding scholarship to meritorious and needy students in arrangement with Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) at Hotel Purbani in the city.

"We are thinking to exempt tax of a part of corporate income, which would be spent in discharging corporate social responsibility (CSR)," the Adviser told reporters.

The matter was not included in the budget, but there is scope of taking a decision in this regard beyond the budget," he said.

He, however, pointed out that some individuals or organisations do not properly utilise any incentive, forcing the authorities to take a restrictive approach. "Even then we are reviewing the issue."

DBBL Managing Director Yesin Ali, while addressing the award giving ceremony, requested Dr Aziz to exempt the CSR expenses from tax so the companies could expand their CSR programmes.

He said the existing 45 per cent corporate tax acts as a disincentive to CSR as the banks have to spend Tk 145 for every stipend of Tk 100.

DBBL organised the function to distribute stipend among 100 students who passed HSC examination, for helping them bear the educational expenses at the graduation level.

Under the programme, each student would get Tk 2,000 per month and a lump sum of Tk 5,000 per year for buying books and other reading materials. The bank spends around Tk 4 crore annually on stipends.