Before you start

A Taxpayer's Identification Number (TIN) from the NBR
A day count against the 1 July–30 June income year
Salary certificates and records of any foreign income
A Bangladeshi bank account

Step-by-step

1
Do the day count properly — 182 days, two limbs, July to June
You are resident if present for 182 days or more in the income year, or 90 days or more in the income year if you were present for more than 365 days across the four preceding years. The year runs 1 July to 30 June. All three elements differ from the common assumption, and residence turns purely on presence regardless of your residency elsewhere. Sourcing and technical staff who rotate through the belt on repeated short trips should watch the second limb particularly.
OnlineWho: YouOn arrival
2
Obtain a TIN
Registration is done through the NBR's e-TIN system. Employers generally require it, banks ask for it, and it is the precondition for filing anything.
OnlineWho: YouMonth 1
3
Establish which Gazipur taxes circle holds your file, not a Dhaka one
Income tax is national but administration is zonal, and your circle follows your address or your employer. A lot of people working in Gazipur describe themselves as living in Dhaka, and then discover at departure that their circle — and therefore the office that must issue the exit clearance certificate — is here. Find out in your first months.
In personWho: YouMonth 1–2
4
Understand the sectoral wage floor if you are hiring or negotiating
The Minimum Wage Board set the ready-made garment minimum wage at Tk 12,500 a month from December 2023, a rise of about 56 per cent on the previous floor, with grade steps above it. That figure governs the district's whole pay structure and is the reference point for any conversation about labour cost, worker relations or a supplier's costing.
In personWho: You
5
File the annual return
Returns are filed with your local tax circle under the Income Tax Act 2023, with e-filing increasingly available. An employer's withholding does not remove the individual filing obligation.
OnlineWho: YouAnnually
6
Start the tax clearance certificate six to eight weeks before permanent departure
A person not domiciled in Bangladesh may not leave without one. For a permanent departure that means filing a return covering 1 July to the departure date, with estimated income to departure included, and obtaining the certificate from your own circle. It requires your presence and it is not quick.
In personWho: You6–8 weeks before departure

Documents you’ll need

TIN certificate
Salary certificate and withholding statements
Bank statements
Records of foreign income and any foreign tax paid
Tax clearance certificate, on permanent departure

Things most newcomers don’t know

The threshold is 182 days, not 183, and the second limb catches the people this district is full of.

Bangladeshi residence turns on presence of 182 days or more in the income year, or 90 days or more in the income year where you were in Bangladesh for more than 365 days across the four preceding years. Gazipur's foreign population is disproportionately technical and sourcing staff on repeated short visits across several years — exactly the pattern the second limb is written for. Anyone assuming they are safely non-resident because no single year hit 182 should check the four-year test.

Source: National Board of Revenue; Income Tax Act 2023

There is no city or provincial income tax anywhere in Bangladesh.

People arriving from federal or devolved systems reasonably ask what the local layer costs, because elsewhere it is real money that varies city to city. In Bangladesh it does not exist: income tax is wholly national under the Income Tax Act 2023, and Gazipur, Dhaka, Chattogram and Khulna are identical on rate, threshold and year. Only the administering zone and circle differ.

Source: National Board of Revenue

Tk 12,500 is the number this district is organised around, and it is not an income tax fact — it is the wage floor.

The Minimum Wage Board fixed the ready-made garment sector minimum wage at Tk 12,500 a month with effect from December 2023, an increase of roughly 56 per cent, with grade steps above it. In a district built on the industry, that figure sets the reference for pay negotiation, for costing a supplier, for understanding worker unrest, and for reading any story about factory closures. It is the single most useful number to carry into a commercial conversation in Gazipur.

Source: Minimum Wage Board, Bangladesh

The exit certificate comes from your own circle — and many Gazipur workers assume theirs is in Dhaka.

The law provides that a person not domiciled in Bangladesh shall not leave without a tax clearance certificate from the income tax authority — an exit return covering 1 July to your departure date, filed at your local tax circle, requiring your physical presence. Gazipur sits inside the Dhaka metropolitan labour market and people describe themselves loosely as Dhaka residents, so this catches people who left the arrangement until the last fortnight and then found the office was not where they thought.

Source: National Board of Revenue

Common mistakes to avoid

Carrying a 183-day, calendar-year assumption from another country.
Missing the 90-day second limb after several years of short sourcing trips.
Assuming your tax circle is in Dhaka because you think of yourself as living there.
Leaving the tax clearance certificate to the final fortnight before departure.
Assuming an employer's withholding removes your filing obligation.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.