Google, Facebook, YouTube be brought under tax net: HC

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The High Court has ordered the government to collect revenue from internet-based service organisations for all types of transactions, including advertisements, domain selling and licence fees, reports UNB.

Google, YouTube, Facebook, Yahoo and Amazon are named as such organisations.

An HC bench of justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and justice Md Ashraful Kamal came up with the order on Thursday following a writ petition.

As per the order, the government has been asked to collect all types of revenues, including tax at source and duty, from all types of transactions, including advertisements, domain selling and licence fees, from search engines Google and Yahoo, e-commerce site Amazon, social media site Facebook, video-sharing site YouTube and all international internet platforms.

The HC also issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain as to why directives should not be given to collect all types of revenues against all types of transactions from the platforms.

Secretaries of finance, law, posts and telecommunications and information ministries, the Bangladesh Bank governor, the National Board of Revenue chairman, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission chairman, the Bangladesh Newspapers Owners Association president, and representatives of Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Amazon and YouTube have been made respondents to the rule which is returnable within four weeks.

The court also asked the government to form a committee comprising experts to assess the amount of their transactions in the last 10 years and submit a report before it by 25 June fixing 28 June for the next hearing.

Six lawyers filed the writ petition on 9 April.

Barrister Mohammad Humayun Kabir Pallab stood for the petitioners while deputy attorney general Motahar Hossain Saju represented the state.

On 7 April, the lawyers sent a legal notice to the government in this regard.

The notice said if the government failed to take action within 24 hours they would move the High Court.

The six lawyers are Mohammad Humayun Kabir, Mohammad Kawser, Abu Zafor Md Saleh, Apurba Kumar Biswas, Mohammad Sajjadul Islam and Mohammad Mazedul kader.