Dhaka: The government has lowered the amount of specific tax imposed on purchase of residential apartments in the semi urban and rural areas through undisclosed money.

According to the Finance Bill 2015, untaxed money holders can legalise their money through purchase of building or apartment situated in the municipal area or district headquarters by paying Tk600 from the existing Tk1000 per square meter if the size of apartment remains below 200 square meters.

For the apartments sized over 200 square meters, the tax rate was reduced from existing Tk 1500 to Tk 800.

The government has made the changes in the section 19BBBBB of the Income Tax Ordinance 1984.

According to Section 19BBBBB of the Income Tax Ordinance 1984, people can legalise their undisclosed money through purchasing building and apartments by paying tax at varying rate for different cities up to Tk 7,000 per square metre.

For the other areas, the tax rate was proposed to be reduced from Tk 700 to Tk 400 per square meter for apartments below 200 square metres. For over 200 square meter sized apartments, the rate was reduced at Tk 600 from the existing Tk 1000.

As a move to bring the undisclosed money in the mainstream economy, the government has been offering untaxed money holders to legalise their money in different sectors, however there were no significant response as of date.

According to National Board of Revenue data, only 2,755 people legalised their undisclosed money in 2013-14 financial year while it has received only Tk 44 crore in tax.