Freelancers to get 4% incentive for export of software, IT-enabled services
A good news for about six lakh freelancers in the country as they now will get a 4 per cent incentive against export of software or IT-enabled services.
Freelancers who work at 55 marketplaces and have been selected by the ICT ministry will get the incentive, according to a Bangladesh Bank circular issued yesterday.
A freelance services marketplace is an online site where businesses or individuals find and hire individuals to do work remotely.
Popular market places such as Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer and Guru were among the selected marketplaces.
The freelancers in Bangladesh will get a boost with the incentives that they have been seeking for a long time.
It is really encouraging that the government is now giving special attention to the freelancers and the move will definitely boost them up, said Rashad Kabir, managing director of Dream71 Bangladesh Ltd.
The government has been providing a 10 per cent cash assistance against the export of ICT products or services since 2018.
But, only institutional IT and freelancing companies having membership with the BASIS are eligible for the work.
With the BB circular, almost all of the freelancers having no membership with BASIS will come under a 4 per cent incentive package.
The decision is likely to propel the bringing of freelancers earning through official channels since some of money comes to the country through unofficial channels due to lack of incentives.
"It's a common scenario in Bangladesh that many freelancers do not bring their whole remittance to Bangladesh. But with the introduction of an incentive facility they will be encouraged now to bring their whole income to the country, which will also add to the country's national GDP," said Kabir who is also a director of BASIS.
It came at a time when the government set a target to increase export earnings in the IT and IT-enabled services sector from the current about $1.1 billion to $5 billion by 2025.
Bangladesh has six lakh IT service exporters or freelancers, and the number of team-based freelancing companies hovers around 1,600. Together they fetch roughly $500 million annually, according to industry people.
Many freelancers are also growing big now and forming companies as the companies are getting 10 per cent cash incentives on foreign export.
The government should continue providing facilities to them as their growth not only will bring more remittance to the country, but also a lot of job scopes will be created, added Kabir.