How to File Your Income Tax Return in Bangladesh (2026-27)

By the Rebate Bhai team · Updated 17 October 2026 · Figures checked against the NBR Income Tax Guide 2026-27

If you earned income between July 2025 and June 2026, your return for it is filed in assessment year 2026-27. This year the rules changed: instead of last year's 30 November Tax Day, you can file at any time in the assessment year — and when you file now changes how much you pay. Here is who has to file, when, how, what to have ready, and how to fix a mistake.

Who has to file

You must file if your total income is above your tax-free limit: ৳4,00,000 for most people, ৳4,50,000 for women and anyone 65 or over, ৳5,25,000 for third-gender taxpayers and persons with disability, and ৳5,50,000 for gazetted war-wounded freedom fighters and gazetted July fighters. Non-resident foreigners are outside this rule; non-resident Bangladeshis are not.

Filing is also compulsory, whatever your income, in a long list of other situations. The ones that catch people most often:

• You had taxable income, or were assessed, in any of the three previous years.
• You are a public servant, or a salaried executive or manager in a business.
• You have tax-exempt income, or income taxed at a reduced rate.
• You open or keep a term deposit over ৳10 lakh, or buy more than ৳10 lakh of Sanchaypatra.
• You take a loan of more than ৳20 lakh.
• You register a car (other than a two- or three-wheeler), change its ownership or renew its fitness.
• You renew a trade licence in a city corporation or municipality.
• You register a sale, lease or power of attorney for land or a flat in a city corporation, municipality or cantonment.
• You admit a child to an English-medium school in a city corporation, district town or municipality.
• You stand for election to a union parishad, municipality, upazila, zila parishad, city corporation or parliament.

When to file — the 2026-27 window

You can file at any point in the assessment year, 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. The date changes what you pay on the tax due with your return — the tax left after your rebate and any tax deducted at source:

The NBR's Example 23 puts numbers on it. A salaried taxpayer whose return shows ৳25,800 of tax payable would pay ৳24,510 if filed by 30 September (a ৳1,290 incentive), ৳25,800 from October to December, ৳28,800 in January–March and ৳30,800 in April–June. Because the late charges have fixed minimums, they bite hardest on small bills: the 2% charge only exceeds ৳3,000 once your tax passes ৳1,50,000, and the 5% charge only exceeds ৳5,000 above ৳1,00,000. The incentive reaches its ৳25,000 cap at ৳5,00,000 of tax.

Three special cases. A first-time filer may file up to the 30 June after the income year ends, paying tax at that year's normal rates. A Bangladeshi abroad for study, a job posting or lien, or work, on a valid visa or permit, may file within 90 days of returning home. And if a deadline falls on a public holiday, you can file on the next working day.

How to file online

Under NBR Special Order 1/2026 (28 June 2026), every individual must file online at etaxnbr.gov.bd except taxpayers aged 65 or over, persons with disability or special needs (with a certificate), Bangladeshis living abroad, the legal representative of a deceased taxpayer, and foreign nationals working in Bangladesh — who may still file online if they prefer. If you can't register on the e-return system, apply to your Deputy Commissioner of Taxes with reasons; with the Additional or Joint Commissioner's approval you can then file on paper.

1. Get a TIN at secure.incometax.gov.bd. It is free, and one TIN lasts for life — you never need a second one.
2. Register at etaxnbr.gov.bd with your TIN and a biometric-verified mobile number registered against your NID.
3. Pick the form. The one-page IT-GHA (2023) is for you only if taxable income is at most ৳5,00,000, total assets at most ৳50,00,000, and you own no car, no house or flat in a city corporation and no assets abroad, and are not a shareholder-director. Everyone else uses IT-11GA (2023).
4. Enter your income by head, your investments, your assets and liabilities, and your living expenses.
5. Pay any tax due by A-challan or e-payment — through a bank, mobile banking such as bKash, Nagad or Rocket, or a credit or debit card.
6. Submit, and download your acknowledgement certificate. Banks, utilities and licensing offices will ask for it.

A return filed within the assessment year is settled on self-assessment. If it shows a refund, the Deputy Commissioner may settle it through a hearing; where your income is only salary, financial assets and agriculture, the refund comes through processing.

What to have ready

• Salary: your salary statement, bank statements or certificates, and proof of every investment you claim — premium receipts, DPS statements, Sanchaypatra certificates.
• Rent: tenancy agreements or receipts, a month-by-month record of rent received, the bank account it was paid into, and municipal tax and land revenue receipts.
• Business: the income statement and balance sheet, with bank statements.
• Capital gains: the sale deed, the challan for any tax paid at source, and your broker's certificate of share gains.
• Interest and dividends: certificates from the bank or the Sanchaypatra office, and dividend warrants.
• Tax already paid: challans and certificates for tax deducted at source. Without proof of the deduction, you get no credit for it.

Common mistakes the NBR warns about

• Leaving out a job you held during the year, or side income such as tuition. Every source goes in.
• Skipping small bank interest. However little, it must be shown — as income from financial assets.
• Valuing assets at market price. Show what you paid; inherited property goes in at its fair value on the date you received it.
• Forgetting mobile-wallet balances. bKash, Nagad or Rocket balances on 30 June count as cash in hand.
• Not showing a bank loan. Loans go in your liabilities — and no tax is due on the loan money itself.
• An opening net wealth that doesn't match last year's closing figure. They must agree.
• Showing only this year's DPS or insurance payment. Show the cumulative balance as well.
• Assuming you're off the hook after leaving a job or closing a business, or after years of not filing. You still file — and if you missed years, file for each one in turn.

Correcting a return

If you find that income, an exemption or a tax credit was shown wrongly, you can file a revised return with a written explanation — but only once, only within 180 days of the original, and not after your return has been selected for audit. A revised return cannot reduce the tax in your original return, and figures can't be changed without documentary proof. Exempt or reduced-rate income added at revision is taxed as income from other sources, with a few exceptions such as government pension and legal remittances.

If you don't file

Missing the deadline exposes you to a penalty under section 266 and additional tax under section 174, and it can lead to gas or electricity connections being cut and to problems drawing your salary. A late return also loses most tax exemptions, though the investment rebate survives. Work out your tax first →