Sena Kalyan Sangstha Writes to NBR Seeking Permanent Income Tax Waiver

An official of the National Board of Revenue said that Sena Kalyan Sangstha, a trust owned and operated by Bangladesh Army, has sought a permanent income tax waiver for their Sangstha and all of their projects, according to the media.

On behalf of the Sena Kalyan Sangstha's Chairman, the SKS's head of finance recently sent a letter to the Prime Minister's Office's Armed Forces Division, with an acknowledgment to the Chairman of the NBR, Abu Hena Md. Rahmatul Muneem, and senior secretary of the finance ministry's finance division, Abdur Rouf Talukder, requesting that the Sena Kalyan Sangstha's income taxes be waived.

According to the letter, the income of this organization (Sena Kalyan Sangstha) is used for the welfare of retired members of the armed forces and their dependents, bear medical and education expenses of the dependents, pay old-age allowances to its members.

Earlier, in recognition of the welfare activities mentioned by the Sangstha, the income tax of all its projects was exempted from 1971 to 2002.

Income tax exemption on all Sangstha was revoked as a political government came to power thereafter.

The SKS letter also mentions that through various SROs of July 2003, during the tenure of the erstwhile government, income tax exemption was withdrawn on all other institutions of Sena Kalyan Sangstha except the Sangstha building in Dhaka and Sangstha building in Khulna.

As a result, it is being difficult for Sena Kalyan Sangstha to manage the welfare-oriented activities of the retired armed forces members.

In the current context and following the spread of the deadly Coronavirus, “all our industries have faced challenges in terms of reality. In addition, due to the financial crisis, the bank loans have been gradually increasing and the size of the company's welfare-oriented activities has been limited,” the letter added.

It said Sena Kalyan Sangstha (SKS) has so far disbursed Tk 438.80 crore for the welfare of retired armed forces personnel.

Meanwhile, the government exempted the Army Welfare Trust from the income tax provision as per the Income Tax Ordinance 1984 enacted by SRO on 22 February, 2007. Accordingly, the Sena Kalyan Sanstha may be granted such exemption, it argued.

Besides, Sena Kalyan Sangstha also runs CSR activities with the help of different commercial banks, the letter said.

The East Pakistan Fauji Foundation was founded in 1953, when Bangladesh was still a part of Pakistan.

In 1972, it was renamed SKS after Bangladesh's independence.  Sena Kalyan Bhaban, a 23-story structure in Dhaka, serves as the organization's headquarters.

SKS owns Savoy Ice Cream, Energy Savings Lamp, Habib fan, Citizen Fridge, Elephant cement, television, and transformer factory, etc. The sangstha is also running Five-Starred 'Radisson Blu' hotel in the hospitality sector in Bangladesh.

In 2016, the trust signed an MOU with the Bawani group of Saudi Arabia to export manpower. In 2015, the trust launched Sena Kalyan Travels and Tours, a travel agency. The trust also owns a Liquefied petroleum gas plant.

On May 19, 2021, the Sena Kalyan Insurance, a concern of SKS, under the Bangladesh Armed Forces, wanted to raise funds from the members of the public by issuing 1.6 crore ordinary shares at a face value of Tk10 each aggregating Tk16 crore.

An NBR official, requesting anonymity, said, "We have examined the Sena Kalyan Sangstha proposal for permanent tax waiver".