Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed today addressed a seminar as the chief guest at the NBR in Dhaka. Photo: PID

DHAKA, Aug 4, 2025 (BSS) - Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed today called upon the critics to also highlight the positive aspects of the economy since they often tend to criticize the interim government's economic measures despite progress in various indicators.

"Don't you see anything good in the economy? It takes insight to notice the progresses that have been made over the months," he said. 

The finance adviser was addressing at a seminar as the chief guest on activities of income tax, VAT and Customs in the national budget for fiscal year 2025-26 and also the inauguration of the e-return submission for the 2025-26 year at the NBR here.

Acknowledging that the interim government might have some slight mistakes, he said, "But when the good work is encouraged, it feels good. Still, you have the freedom to say what you want." 

The seminar was organised to brief journalists on the changes made in income tax, VAT and customs policies in the budget for the fiscal year 2025-26.

NBR Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan presided over the seminar. Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) President Doulot Akter Mala also spoke among others.

The finance adviser said that there are some junior economists in the country and they do not see anything good at all.

"If you want to see, you need to have inner eyes," he said urging the junior economists of the country to change their attitude for seeing progress.

"If we don't want to see, then we won't see anything," he said. 

Dr Salehuddin also said if anyone encourages the good things, then it would bring positive move for all concerned. 

He also requested the mass media to focus on positive sides of the government in a bigger way. 

"Let’s see the mistakes less, always try to see the glass is half-full rather than half-empty," he said. 

Regarding the e-return submission of the income tax for individuals, he highly lauded the NBR for this great job. 

"NBR is the center point of the revenue, trade and commerce, it not only does the revenue collection operations, but also facilitates the trade and commerce of the country," he said. 

The adviser mentioned that time has come to ensure transparency and accountability in everything. 

Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, also the former central bank governor, said that whatever laws and regulations are enacted by the government, those might get deviated due to the persons who are responsible for enforcing those.

"Those persons might have anger or affection towards anything, but those have to be averted," he asked the NBR officials. 

Dr Salehuddin appreciated the NBR officials for their relentless efforts to gather revenues for the country saying that everyone lauds NBR, even the chief adviser. 

Meanwhile, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has made online submission of income tax returns mandatory for all individual taxpayers across the country, except for senior citizens aged 65 years or above, physically incapable or taxpayers with special need subjected to submission of certificates, Bangladeshi taxpayers residing abroad, and legal representatives of deceased taxpayers. 

According to the NBR, from today, all individual taxpayers will be able to submit their returns for the 2025-26 tax year online through the NBR's e-return platform (www.etaxnbr.gov.bd). 
However, the exempted categories will retain the option to submit paper returns if they wish. 

Any individual taxpayer unable to submit online returns due to registration-related technical problems may be allowed to file paper returns with the approval of the Additional or Joint Commissioner of Taxes upon submitting a written application with proper justification to the concerned Deputy Commissioner of Taxes.

The deadline for such applications is October 31, 2025. 

Last year, when NBR introduced mandatory online return submission for taxpayers under certain jurisdictions, employees of all banks, and employees of selected multinational companies, more than 1.7 million taxpayers filed their returns online. 

Taxpayers can conveniently pay their taxes from home through bank transfer, debit card, credit card, bKash, Rocket, Nagad, or other mobile financial service apps while filing their returns online. 

To facilitate the process, NBR has deployed dedicated teams to provide round-the-clock assistance through its call center and other electronic support channels to resolve any issues faced by taxpayers in filing their returns.