Dr Yunus loses tax payment case in apex court

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday dismissed a leave to appeal petition by Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus against a High Court (HC) order eventually obligating him to pay Tk 12 crore tax.

A four-member bench of the apex court chaired by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique rejected Yunus’s petition after hearing, upholding the HC order.

“The latest Appellate Division verdict has upheld the High Court order that legitimatized the NBR (National Board of Revenue) tax imposed on the money donated by Dr Yunus to his three charitable trusts”, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told journalists.

Three other members of the bench are - Justice M Enayetur Rahim, Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam and Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim.

Earlier, the HC in a verdict asked Yunus to pay around Tk 12 crore as tax on the money he donated to his trusts namely Dr Yunus Trust, Yunus Family Trust and Yunus Center Trust.

The attorney general said NBR imposed around Tk 15 crore tax on the donated money in different years and Prof Yunus has already deposited over Tk 3 crore to the office concerned before challenging the decisions.

On May 31, the HC delivered the verdict saying that the decision of imposing tax on the money gifted by Yunus to his three charitable trusts is "legal".

On June 20, a leave-to-appeal was filed against the HC order. On July 9, the chamber court set July 17 for hearing in the Appellate Division.

On July 17, the Appellate Division adjourned till July 23 the hearing on the appeal against the High Court verdict.

Lawyer Sarder Jinnat Ali and his assistant Advocate Sumaiya Ifrit Binte Ahmed were present at the court for hearing on behalf of Dr Yunus. 

According to the petition, NBR served three separate notices claiming Tk 12,28,74,000 tax against Tk 61.57 crore donation during 2011-2012 fiscal year, Tk 1.60 crore tax against Tk 8.15 crore donation in FY 2012-2013, and Tk 1.50 crore tax against Tk 7 crore donation in FY 2013-2014 as per the Donation Tax-1990.

Dr Yunus challenged the validity of NBR's notices and filed a case with the Appellate Tribunal. 

On November 20, 2014, his petition was rejected. Then in 2015, he filed three income tax reference cases with the High Court.

After that, the High Court ruled on May 31 that the tax imposed by the NBR against the money that he had donated to three trusts was valid.

Source: BSS