Monthly VAT Return (Mushak 9.1) in Bangladesh: Deadline, What Goes In, Input Credit, Late Penalty and Nil Returns

In this guide: The deadline, and the 2026 back-and-forth · Which form, and what goes in it · Input tax credit: the rules that decide your bill · Late returns, penalties and interest · Nil returns and amending a return

The short answer

A VAT-registered person files one return per tax period — a calendar month — within 15 days of its end, on form Mushak 9.1 through the e-VAT portal, and pays the net tax shown. The Finance Act 2026 had switched returns to quarterly from 1 July 2026; the VAT and SD (Amendment) Ordinance 2026, gazetted on 14 October and deemed effective from 1 October, reversed that, and NBR gave the July, August and September 2026 returns until 25 October. The return is due whether or not there was any business in the month: a nil return is mandatory, and for nil filers the deadline is 20 days.

The deadline, and the 2026 back-and-forth

The sequence matters if you are reconciling 2026: monthly to 30 June 2026; quarterly under the Finance Act 2026 for July–September; monthly again from 1 October under the Ordinance, which Parliament must still ratify. NBR retains power under s.64 to extend a deadline by order without interest or penalty, and to mandate electronic filing — which it has done for cigarette, mobile-phone, steel, pharmaceutical, beverage, cement, tile and paint producers and for banks, insurers, NBFIs and MFS operators by General Order 12 of 20 September 2026. Paper filing was discontinued for everyone from 1 July 2026 in any case.

Which form, and what goes in it

Rule 47 as amended in June 2026 provides three returns. Mushak 9.1 is filed by manufacturers and service providers, and by traders who claim input tax credit. Mushak 9.1.1, new in 2026, is a simpler return for other registered persons who claim no credit. Mushak 9.2 is the turnover-tax return for enlisted persons.

Mushak 9.1 walks through, in order: taxable supplies at each rate and the output VAT and supplementary duty on them; zero-rated and exempt supplies; purchases and imports and the input tax on them; increasing and decreasing adjustments (credit and debit notes, VAT deducted at source by your customers, advance tax paid at import, the previous period’s closing balance); the net payable or the closing credit carried forward; and the treasury deposits by economic code (1/1133/0030/0311 for VAT, 0711 for supplementary duty) with the challan details. The figures come from your Mushak 6.1 purchase book, 6.2 sales book and the 6.3 invoices behind them — see our Mushak 6.3 and books guide. Where net tax is payable it is paid by A-challan before or with filing; electronic payment is compulsory where the net payable is Tk 10 lakh or more.

Input tax credit: the rules that decide your bill

The whole point of registration is the credit for VAT paid on inputs. Section 46 sets conditions, and the 2026 amendments tightened them:

• The purchase must be supported by a Mushak 6.3 tax invoice (or bill of entry for imports, or a treasury challan for VAT on imported services) showing the names, addresses and BINs of both parties, and recorded in the purchase book.
• Where the value of a supply exceeds Tk 1 lakh, payment must have been made through the banking channel or mobile banking; cash payments above that lose the credit.
• The credit must be claimed in the tax period of the purchase or within the next six tax periods.
• No credit for inputs used in exempt supplies, or in supplies taxed at a reduced or specific rate (exports excepted); only proportionate credit where a supply is made below cost; no credit where the input-output coefficient (Mushak 4.3) was not filed when required, or where input values have moved more than 7.5% from it.
• “Labour” was removed from the negative list in 2026, so VAT on labour-supply services is now creditable.

VAT on imported services — a foreign consultant, a software subscription, an overseas advertising platform — is charged at 15% by reverse charge; since 2026 the bank deducts it at remittance and the e-challan is both the proof and the credit document.

Late returns, penalties and interest

Two further points. The 2026 amendments opened a window to 31 December 2026 for clearing legacy arrears at 2% simple interest a month capped at 24 months (s.137A), worth using if you have old demands. And an appeal against a VAT demand now needs a deposit of only 1% at the Commissioner (Appeals) and the Tribunal and 2% at the High Court, down from 10% — our appeals guide covers the income-tax ladder; the VAT ladder runs in parallel. A VAT audit must receive its documents within two months (extendable by one) and close within a year.

Nil returns and amending a return

A registered person with no transactions in a month still files, showing nil figures; nil filers have the 20-day deadline and the return keeps the BIN active and the s.4(3) bank and licence checks satisfied. A return with an error is corrected by an amended return under s.66 — the statutory time limit is one we are confirming against the current text (s.66), so file the correction as soon as the error is found and pay any additional tax with interest, which under s.85(2A) avoids the penalty altogether.

Three more 2026 points: the Finance Bill’s monthly provisional deposit based on the prior period’s liability was not enacted; proportionate input tax credit is now allowed on below-cost supplies (s.46(1) as amended); and s.137A opens a six-month interest-waiver window for legacy demands from 1 July 2026.