Full Service Law Firm in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The major laws governing the ownership of movable and immovable properties, namely the Transfer of Property Act 1882 and the Registration Act 1908, contain no provisions that prohibit the ownership of properties by foreign individuals.

The Articles 13 & 42 of the Constitution of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, which defines the “principles of ownership” and the “rights to property”, respectively, clarify that all the citizens of Bangladesh shall have the “right to acquire, hold, transfer or otherwise dispose of property”. However even the constitution does not provide any provision which specifically prevent a foreigner from owning land or any other property in Bangladesh.

Registration of land is compulsory under Section 17 of the Registration Act 1908. The instrument of transfer, unless it is a will, needs to be presented for the registration process within the next three months of its execution. The place for presenting the document for registration is in the office of the Sub-Registrar within whose Sub-district the whole or major portion of the property is situated. The presentation should be made by the person executing the document, a person claiming under him or an agent of the person executing the document

The first step of checking if your land is registered or not is to find the schedule of the land which includes particulars such as the corresponding District, Upazila, Mouza, Khatian, Dag No. etc. Then one must go to the Sub-registry office that has the territorial jurisdiction over the scheduled land and request a search report to find out whether there is any registered document regarding the said land or not. One can also go to the Assistant Commissioners Office to see if any documents have been submitted there for conducting a mutation on the land. This is important because the mutation procedure requires all the documents relating to the land, therefore would provide a definitive answer as to the question of whether the land has been registered or not.

The most basic two ways of procuring ownership of land in Bangladesh is done in the following two ways – firstly, through a registered instrument (by way of sale, will and gift among others) and secondly, by way of inheritance. As for ownerships through registered documents, information regarding who owns the property can be found in the corresponding Sub-registry office, since the name of the owner is supposed to be registered there. In case of ownership by way of inheritance however, the name of the owner may not be present but the name of his predecessors should be enumerated in detail.

Khatian basically translates to the “Record of Rights”. They are prepared through land surveys to determine the possession and ownership of land. Each Upazilla is divided into multiple plots called Mouza. Khatians are then prepared to divide further plots out of the Mouza to make more precise assessment of who possesses which plot.

Namraji refers to the mutation of the Record of Rights (Khatians) where the name of the new owner is updated over the previous one. Namjari or Mutation is essential to prove ones title to a property. Other than that, it is also important to create a holding for the purposes of paying ground rent in the name of the new owner.

The laws relating to Mutation in Bangladesh mainly include the chapter IV, which talks about the preparation of record of rights and chapter XVII, which talks about the maintenance and the revision of record of rights, of the State Acquisition & Tenancy Act 1950. There are also substantial provisions in the Tenancy Rules of 1954-1955 and many of the government circulars regarding the matter of mutation.

Khatians are not bona fide proof of title, therefore the answer is no. As we have mentioned before, a khatian is simply a record of who has the physical possession of the land in concern, and possession alone is not sufficient proof of ownership in case of any property. My completing the mutation procedure, a person simply updates the record and in some cases opens ups a holding to pay rent.

The mutation khatian can prove ones title over a piece of land however, when it is accompanied by some other documents relating to the title such as the up to date ground rent receipts, the title deeds, bia deeds etc.

The following documents shall have to be preserved in order to maintain accounts, namely:

(i). Purchase Ledger Book

(ii). Sale ledger book

(iii). Tax invoice

(iv). Contractual output invoice

(v). Goods transfer invoice

(vi). Certificate of withholding tax at source

(vii). Credit note-debit note

(viii). Documents related to adjustment

(ix). Returns, etc

.

There are two methods or principles of account maintenance, namely:

(i). Cash based

(ii). Accrual based

There is no scope of arrear accounts in case of cash based principle of transaction. On the other hand, scope of account maintenance exists in accrual based transaction even without paying in cash. In business transactions arrear must be there, therefore, in all business concerns, accrual based methods or principles are followed. Hence, the new VAT law also follows the accrual based principle.

The VAT-related documents should be maintained for up to 5 years in order to facilitate the assessment of Tax.

Tax invoice is the numerical series of documents comprising specified information and data of the supplier in respect of his taxable supply. Form VAT-6.3 shall be considered as the tax invoice. The tax invoice shall consist of the following information:

(i). Name of the purchaser

(ii). Invoice number

(iii). BIN number of the seller

(iv). BIN number of the purchaser (in applicable cases)

(v). Details of the supply

(vi). Quantity of the supply

(vii). Value

(viii). Tax involved

No documents other than the Tax payer’s Return (form VAT-9.1 and 9.2) and purchase –sale information (form VAT-6.20) are required to be sent to the VAT office.

Return has to be furnished before the Commissioner. In order to furnish Return before the Commissioner, Return can be submitted at the following places:

(i). At online portal of the Board,

nbr.gov.bd(ii). At any convenient VAT Commissionerate or Departmental Office,

(iii). At any service centre as specified by the Board or the concerned Commissioner,

(iv). At any Fair conducted by the Board or the concerned Commissioner,

(v). At any other place as specified by order of the Board

Within the 15th day of the following month of the tax period, a registered person shall furnish a VAT Return in form VAT-9.1 & a Turnover Tax Enlisted Person shall furnish Turnover Tax Return in form VAT-9.2, both before the Commission.

Application has to be made before the Commissioner in form VAT-9.3 before a minimum of 7 (seven) days of expiry of the concerned Tax period. The Commissioner, within 7 (seven) days of receipt of the application, after due consideration, shall approve the application. But extension of time shall not be over 1 (one) month.

No signature is required on the Return if submitted online. But in case of submitting return manually, the Registered or Enlisted Person shall sign on the return. If, owing to any reason, it is not possible on his part to sign, authorized person on his behalf shall sign.

For a certain Tax period, full, supplementary or late Return can be submitted, but partial payment shall not be tenable.

Each Registered or Enlisted or fit to be registered or fit to be enlisted individual has to submit Return. It is a mandatory act.

Non submission of Return is tantamount to failure or irregularity. According to the provisions of section 85, sub-section (2), Article (F) of the law, in case of non submission of Return a fine or take 10 (Ten) thousand can be imposed ; your institution shall be identified as a vulnerable institution and all activities including import, export shall be at risk.

According to the rules under the Value Added Tax and Supplementary Duty Rules 2016, the supplier shall issue tax invoices against each supply in Form VAT-6.3. The instructions to fill in Tax invoice must be followed in order to issue correct Tax invoice.

For each Tax period, return has to be furnished within the 15^th day of the following month after completion of the Tax period. If the 15^th in a public holiday, the same should be furnished on the preceding day. It can be done 24/7 in case of furnishing online.

National NGO can be registered under the following authorities:  

• Department of Social Service: Registration from the Department of Social Services (DSS) , under the Ministry of Social Welfare. The registration has to be done under The Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance, 1961& related Rules, 1962.

• NGO Affairs Bureau: If the national NGO wants to receive foreign donation then it must also be registered under NGO Affairs Bureau (NGOAB).

• Microfinance Authority: Registration from the Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) and registration has to be done under Microcredit Regulatory Authority Act, 2006 and Microcredit Regulatory Rules, 2010.

• Department of Women Affairs: Registration from the Department of Women Affairs (DWA), under the Ministry of Women & Children Affairs for organizations that work for women and children welfare. The registration has to be done under The Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance, 1961& related Rules, 1962.

• RJSC: Registration from the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms under Ministry of Commerce. The registration has to be done under The Societies Registration Act, 1860 and The Companies Act, 1994.

• Trust: An NGO can be formed under a Trust as well. Trust deeds are registered at the Sub-Registrar Office where the head office of the NGO is situated. The registration has to be done under Trust Act, 1882.

• Waqf:
• All Waqfs are registered at the office of the Administrator of Waqf under The Waqfs Ordinance, 1962

International NGO can be registered under Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulations Act, 2016 (FDRA) . The registration has to be taken from NGO Affairs Bureau (NGOAB), under the Prime Minister’s Office.

If a cheque is dishonored then the first step is to send a legal notice claiming the amount payable. The notice must be sent to the drawer of the cheque within 30 days from the date when the cheque has been dishonored. If the drawer of such a cheque fails to make the payment of the said amount of money to the payee within 30 days of the receipt of the notice, then a case can be filed. The case can be filed under section 138 or 140 (as the case maybe) of the Negotiable Instrument Act 1881.

There are 5 types of Writs in Bangladesh which are Habeas Corpus, Mandamus, Prohibition, Certiorari, Quo Warranto.