In a new development, value-added tax (VAT) will now be applicable when individuals apply for government jobs.
This marks a shift from the past, as the government had not previously imposed VAT on job applications submitted to government and autonomous bodies.
The Ministry of Finance recently issued a notification detailing the inclusion of VAT in the job application fee. As a consequence, the previous notification dated September 22, 2022, has been cancelled.
The introduction of VAT will lead to a slight increase in the overall costs for job applicants across various ministries, departments, directorates, and autonomous organizations.
The VAT will primarily be levied on the service charge (Teletalk Bangladesh Commission), which constitutes 15% of the examination fee. A comparison of the two notifications shows that the duty has not been increased, only VAT has been imposed. As a result, the expenses of the applicants will increase slightly.
The notification states that online application and examination fees will be charged through Teletalk Bangladesh Limited. A maximum of 10% of the money collected for examination fee shall be paid to Telecom Bangladesh as commission. 15% of the commission will be collected as VAT.
For applicants seeking ninth-grade positions, the application fee will amount to Tk600. This will be augmented by a Telecom Bangladesh service charge of 10% (Tk60) and a VAT charge of 15% on this service charge (Tk9). Consequently, ninth-grade job aspirants will need to pay Tk669 for their applications.
Application fee for 10th grade job aspirants is Tk500. A service charge of Tk50 and VAT of Tk7.50 will be added to this. Job aspirants in this grade will need to apply Tk557.50.
Thus, job aspirants in 11th and 12th grade will have to pay Tk334.50, 13th to 16th grade job aspirants will have to pay Tk223 and 17th to 20th grade job aspirants will have to pay Tk111.50.
Conditions
Application and examination fee can be paid online through Teletalk Bangladesh Limited and a maximum of 10% of the money collected for the examination fee will be given to Teletalk Bangladesh Limited as commission and 15% of the money received as commission can be collected as VAT.
Teletalk Bangladesh Limited will deposit the money for the examination fee in the government treasury immediately after depositing it in favour of the concerned institution through bank check within three working days of receipt, but the autonomous institution can deposit the money as its own bank in case of necessity.
If online application is not taken, exam fee should be paid through challan. However, autonomous institutions can take this money through bank draft/pay order in case of need.
The money collected for the examination fee should be deposited in the government treasury in automated challan with 13-digit institutional code and 7-digit new economic code 1422326 of the concerned institution.
If an institution wants to deposit examination fee in manual challan (TR form) it should be deposited in “1-Institutional Code (Four Digits) Management Code (Four Digits)-Economic Code (2031)”.
