Following the governments offer to legalise undeclared gold, traders are organising a fair for jewellers to clear their stock of the precious yellow metal.
The three-day fair at Dhaka’s Hotel InterContinental between Jun 23 and 25, however, will not be open to the public, Bangladesh Jewellers’ Association (Bajus) General Secretary Dilip Kumar Agarwala told Bangla Tribune.
“Gold trade is finally being recognised after a long time, which prompted us to organise the ‘gold fair’ in cooperation with the NBR [National Board of Revenue], which will basically facilitate traders to legalise their stocks,” he said.
The annual demand for gold in Bangladesh is between 20 and 40 tonnes. Almost 80 percent of it is met by smuggled gold as traders face difficulties in importing the precious metal due to its complex procedure, according to Gold Policy 2018, which was cleared by the government in October.
In a notification in May 28 this year, the NBR said that if any trader wants to disclose their undeclared stock of gold, they will have to pay Tk 1,000 per bhori (11.664 grams). In case of cut and polished diamond, the tax will be at Tk 6,000 per carat. Besides, the authorities fixed the tax for silver at Tk 50 per bhori.
The offer will stay until Jun 30, 2019, read the gazette.
The tax benefits will be given to the traders after they fulfil certain terms and conditions, said the state coffer.
The NBR, in its notice, said traders will have to maintain inventories of declared gold, silver and diamond in separate books. Sales from the inventories should also be recorded in separate books. The traders will have to submit these books along with income tax returns.