Online Desk: Metro rail passengers will have to bear additional cost as the National Board of Revenue (NBR) is going to impose 15 percent VAT on its tickets from July 1.

There is currently a VAT waiver on Metrorail tickets, which will expire on June 30. DMTCL requested NBR to extend the period but the revenue board expressed unwillingness to extend the exemption period.

The second secretary of NBR’s VAT Division Barrister Md. Badruzzaman Munshi sent a letter to the managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) in this regard.

According to the letter, VAT exemption on metro rail tickets will expire on June 30.

In the letter, the revenue board said that various development activities are going on in the country with the goal of attaining the status of developed country by 2041.

The government has to constantly provide money to carry out those development activities, which is mainly collected through direct and indirect taxes.

Tax exemptions are given to various sectors on different occasion with the aim of promoting domestic industries, reduce import dependence and developing small and cottage industries, etc, said the letter.

That is why tax exemption benefits are being gradually withdrawn from various sectors.

Besides, freedom fighters and children of three feet height can travel free of charge, and people with special needs can travel on metro rail at a 10 to 15 percent discount.