Zero Return in Bangladesh: Who Must File a Nil Return, How to File It Online, and What Happens If You Skip a Year

In this guide: Does a TIN alone mean you must file? · The forty situations that need a proof of submission of return (s.264) · How to file a nil return online · If you skipped last year · When you may stop filing: TIN cancellation

The short answer

A “zero return” is an ordinary return showing no taxable income. You must file one if you fall within s.166 of the Income Tax Act 2023 — most commonly because you were assessed in any of the previous three years — or because you need a proof of submission of return for one of the forty transactions in s.264. If neither applies, there is no statutory duty, but the return is free, takes twenty minutes on etaxnbr.gov.bd, and avoids an awkward conversation with your bank next year. Skipping a year after you have started filing is the one thing we advise against.

Does a TIN alone mean you must file?

Not on its own. Section 261 says who must register for a TIN — taxpayers, people required to file under s.166, people who need a PSR under s.264, and anyone who wishes to pay tax. Section 166 says who must file. The two overlap but are not identical. A student who took a TIN for a scholarship form, with no income and none of the s.264 needs, is registered but not obliged to file.

In practice the duty catches most TIN holders through one of three doors: (1) taxable income in the year; (2) tax assessed, or taxable income, in any of the three preceding years — which is why once you start filing you cannot simply stop; and (3) one of the s.264 situations in the year. Shareholder-directors, partners, government employees and salaried managerial staff must file regardless of income.

Two proposals in the 2026 Finance Bill — a TIN for every bank account and for land mutation — were dropped in Parliament on 29 June 2026. They are not law; a bank asking for a PSR to open an ordinary savings account is going beyond the Act.

The forty situations that need a proof of submission of return (s.264)

Since 1 July 2026 the list in s.264(3), as amended by the Finance Act 2026, runs to forty items. The ones that reach ordinary people most often:

A shorter list of twelve situations needs only the system-generated TIN certificate, not a PSR: a new trade licence, a credit card, a post-office savings account above Tk 5 lakh, first-time membership of a professional body, a three-wheeler or a motorcycle of 150cc and above, a new e-commerce licence, and a company in the year of incorporation among them. That is why a new business can start on a TIN alone but cannot renew its licence next year without a return.

The officer who issues the licence, loan or registration is bound not to proceed without the PSR, and may be fined up to Tk 10 lakh for failing to verify it (s.264(5)–(8)). Business premises must also display the PSR, on pain of a fine of Tk 20,000 to Tk 50,000 (s.265).

How to file a nil return online

1. Register on etaxnbr.gov.bd with your TIN and the mobile number registered against your NID, as described in our return-filing guide.
2. Open the return for tax year 2026-27 and go through the income heads. Enter nil where there is no income; where there is small income — a little bank interest, say — enter it, since a “zero return” is not required to be literally zero, only below the tax-free limit.
3. Enter your assets, liabilities and living expenses as at 30 June 2026. This is where most nil returns go wrong: a person who shows no income but a growing bank balance or a new flat has made an unexplained gap that NBR’s audit selection is designed to catch. If the money came from a gift, a loan or past savings, say so.
4. Submit. There is no tax to pay, and no minimum tax: NBR’s stated position is that minimum tax applies only to taxpayers whose income exceeds the taxable threshold.
5. Download the acknowledgement slip. That slip is your PSR for the year.

Housewives, students and people in the same position have no special form or exemption; the same return is used and the same tests apply. A spouse’s or minor child’s income that is not separately assessable is included in the earning spouse’s return.

If you skipped last year

This is the question we are asked most. You took a TIN in 2024, filed a nil return for 2024-25, and missed 2025-26. Now you need a loan.

• The missed year is still owed. Being assessed or taxable in any of the three preceding years keeps the duty alive. File the missed year as well as the current one; the portal allows a return for an earlier year.
• The penalty is discretionary, and for a nil return usually small. Section 266 lets the Deputy Commissioner impose 10% of the tax on the last assessed income (minimum Tk 1,000) plus Tk 50 a day. Where the last assessed tax was nil, the arithmetic starts from the minimum. These are the enacted Finance Act 2026 figures: a flat Tk 5,000 minimum tax nationwide once income crosses the threshold, Tk 1,000 for a first-time taxpayer; the old location tiers are abolished. NBR’s online FAQ still shows the old tiers and is out of date on this point.
• First-time filers are treated more gently. NBR’s long-standing position is that someone who has never filed may do so by 30 June following the income year without penalty.
• Do not let it drift. Under s.262(3) NBR may itself cancel a TIN that has no real or legitimate source of income, which sounds convenient until you need the PSR; and a dormant TIN resurfacing after years invites questions about the years in between.

When you may stop filing: TIN cancellation

The lawful way out is cancellation under s.262, not silence. You may apply if you no longer need a PSR for any s.264 purpose and either you are no longer a “taxpayer”, or you have had no taxable income for three consecutive years and expect none, or you are no longer required to file under s.166. Death, liquidation, permanently leaving Bangladesh with no income here, a duplicate or erroneous registration, and any other lawful reason are separate grounds.

Approval requires that no tax is outstanding, no assessment is pending and no dispute is pending in any forum, and that the stated reason is true (s.262(2)). The application goes to the Deputy Commissioner of your circle; a cancelled TIN is deactivated rather than deleted, and the record stays with NBR. We cover the procedure in our TIN guide.