The government has cut the fine by half in the case of failure of filing value-added tax (VAT) and turnover tax returns by the due date.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today proposed to reduce the amount of penalty from Tk 10,000 to Tk 5,000.

He also proposed to incorporate the provision of non-imposition of penalty for the unintentional mistakes by taxpayers and the non-submission of return for the period between a business's closure and resumption of operation.

The maximum time limit for charging interest on the arrears of VAT has been proposed to be fixed at 24 months.