Govt Proposes Tax-Free Status for Nobel and 10 Other Global Awards

The Nobel Prize and ten other prestigious international awards are proposed to be tax-exempt in Bangladesh for the upcoming fiscal year. This exemption will allow Bangladeshi taxpayers to exclude these award monies from their taxable income. The proposal is part of the national budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The awards proposed for tax exemption include: Nobel Prize, Ramon Magsaysay Award, Booker Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Simon Bolivar Prize, Academy Award, Grammy Award, Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, Cannes Film Festival Award, and Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Notably, Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and several Ramon Magsaysay Award winners will benefit from this policy. To implement this, the Sixth Schedule of the Income Tax Act, which lists income sources exempt from taxation, will be amended to include these awards. Currently, foreign income remitted to Bangladesh under specific conditions is tax-free, but the tax treatment of foreign award money has been ambiguous. This proposal aims to clarify and ensure tax-exempt status for these distinguished awards.