It’s easy if you try

The majority of the taxpayers are salaried people and today you will know how to prepare your tax return this year following the new tax form IT - 11GA (2023).

On the first page of the return, provide basic information related to you. You will find the information from the national identification (NID) number, the taxpayer identification number (TIN) and the salary certificate. Now calculate your tax.

The first schedule of the return is applicable for salaried persons. This schedule has two parts; the first part is applicable for government employees and the second part is for private service holders.

If you are a government employee, write all the figures in the first column in the first table of the page. Write the same amount in the second column as an exemption except basic salary, festival bonus and any other kinds of bonus because these three items are taxable which shall be written in the third column and the sum of these is your taxable income.

The taxable income calculation for private service holders is easier this year compared to last year. Write all the amounts one by one per your salary certificate. Now sum up all of them and write in serial number 13 and exclude one-third of the total amount from the total salary.

But you have to remember that your maximum exempted amount in serial number 14 shall be Tk 450,000. After deducting the exempted amount, you will get the taxable income from salary which shall be written in serial 15 and this amount shall be transferred to the second page in serial number 1.

Now apply the slab-wise tax rates to calculate tax liability and write in serial 12 on the same page under the tax computation table.

The tax rebate on your investment shall be deducted from gross tax. If you have any allowable investments, then write down all of them in Schedule 5. Apply 15 percent on the total investment but it shall not exceed by 3 percent of your taxable income.

The net tax amount shall be after deducting tax rebate from gross tax. If your tax amount is less than your minimum tax, the minimum tax shall be your tax amount.

In addition, the "statement of expenses relating to lifestyle" shall be included if taxable income exceeds Tk 5 lakh and the "statement of assets, liabilities and expenses" shall be filled up if your assets exceed Tk 40 lakh, you own a motor car, has an investment in a house property or an apartment in the city corporation area, own assets outside Bangladesh, or are a shareholder director of a company. Otherwise, it is not mandatory.

All is done! Try to submit the tax return by Tax Day. Otherwise, you will lose tax rebates fully which will increase your tax significantly. Moreover, you will have to pay an interest of 4 percent on your tax.

Jasim Uddin Rasel is author of Smart Money Hacks