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THE FIRST SCHEDULE
PART A
APPROVED SUPERANNUATION FUND OR PENSION FUND
[See section 2(6)]
1. Definitions.-
For the purposes of this Part,-
(a) "employer", "employee", "contribution" and "salary" have, in relation to 1[Superannuation fund or Pension Fund], the same meanings assigned to those expressions in paragraph 1 of Part B in relation to provident fund; and
(b) "ordinary annual contribution" means an annual contribution of a fixed amount or an annual contribution computed on some definite basis by reference to the earnings, the contributions or the number of me mbers of the fund.
2. Approval and withdrawal of approval.-
2[(1) The Board shall within six months from the date of receipt of the application by it for according approval to any Superannuation fund or Pension Fund, accord such approval, failing which the Superannuation fund or Pension Fund shall be deemed to have been accorded approval and the Board may, if, in its opinion, the Superannuation fund or Pension Fund contravanes any of the conditions specified in paragraph 3, withdraw such approval at any time.]
(2) The Board shall communicate in writing to the trustees of the fund the grant of approval with the date on which the approval is to take effect, and where the approval is granted subject to conditions, those conditions.
(3) The Board shall communicate in writing to the trustees of the fund any withdrawal of approval with the reasons for such withdrawal and the date on which the withdrawal is to take effect.
(4) The Board shall neither refuse nor withdraw approval to any Superannuation fund or Pension Fund or any part of a Superannuation fund or Pension Fund unless it has given the trustees of that fund a reasonable opportunity of being heard in the matter.
3. Conditions for approval.-
In order that a Superannuation fund or Pension Fund may receive and retain approval, it shall satisfy the conditions set out below and any other conditions which the Board may prescribe-
(a) the fund shall be a fund established under an irrevocable trust in connection with a trade or undertaking carried on in Bangladesh;
(b) the fund shall have for its sole purpose the provision of annuities for employees in the trade or undertaking on their retirement at or after a specified age or on their becoming incapacitated prior to such retirement, or for the widows, children or dependents of persons who are, or have been, such employees on the death of those persons;
(c) the employer in the trade or undertaking shall be a contributor to the fund; and
(d) all annuities, pensions and other benefits granted from the fund shall be payable only in Bangladesh :
Provided that the Board may, if it thinks fit and subject to such conditions, if any, as it thinks proper to attach to the approval, approve a fund or any part of a fund-
(i) notwithstanding that the rules of the fund provide for the return in certain contingencies of contributions paid to the fund, or
(ii) if the main purpose of the fund is the provision of such annuities as aforesaid, notwithstanding that such provision is not its sole purpose, or
(iii) notwithstanding the trade or undertaking, in connection with which the fund is established, is carried on only partly in Bangladesh.
4. Application for approval.-
(1) An application for approval of a Superannuation fund or Pension Fund or part of a Superannuation fund or Pension Fund for any year of assessment shall be made in writing before the end of that year by the trustees of the fund to the 3[Board] and shall be accompanied by a copy of the instrument under which the fund is established and by two copies of the rules and of the accounts of the fund for the last year for which such accounts have been made up. The Board may require such further information to be supplied as it thinks proper.
(2) If any alteration in the rules, constitution, objects or conditions of the fund is made at any time after the date of the application for approval, the trustees of the fund shall forthwith communicate such alteration to the Deputy Commissioner of Taxes, and in default of such communication, any approval given shall, unless the Board otherwise orders, be deemed to have been withdrawn from the date on which the alteration took effect.
5. Exemption of income of and contribution to Superannuation fund or Pension Fund from tax.-
(1) Income derived from investments or deposits of an approved Superannuation fund or Pension Fund and any capital gains arising from the transfer of capital assets of such fund shall be exempt from payment of tax.
(2) Any sum paid by an employer as contribution towards an approved Superannuation fund or Pension Fund shall be deducted in computing his income, profits and gains for the purpose of assessment :
Provided that where a contribution by an employer is not an ordinary annual contribution it shall, for the purpose of this paragraph, be treated either as an expense in the income year in which the sum is paid or as an expense to be spread over such period of years as the Board thinks proper.
(3) Tax shall not be payable in respect of any sum paid by an employee by way of contribution towards an approved Superannuation fund or Pension Fund to which the provisions relating to paragraph 6 of part B of the Sixth Schedule shall apply:
Provided that no such exemption shall be allowable to an employee in respect of any sum which is not an ordinary annual contribution.
6. Treatment of repaid contributions.-
(1) Where any contributions (including interest on contributions, if any) are repaid to an employee in any income year, the amount so repaid shall be deemed for the purposes of tax to be income of the employee for that year.
(2) Where any contributions (including interest on contributions, if any) are repaid to an employee during his life time but not at or in connection with the termination of his employment, tax on the amount so repaid or paid shall, except in the case of an employee whose employment was carried on abroad, be deducted by the trustees of the fund at the average rate of tax at which the employee was liable to tax during the preceding three years or during such period, if less than three years, as he was a member of the fund, and shall be paid by the trustees to the credit of the Government within the prescribed time and in such manner as the Board may direct.
7. Deduction from pay of and contributions on behalf of employee to be included in the statement under section 108.-
Where an employer deducts from the salary paid to an employee or pays on his behalf any contribution to an approved Superannuation fund or Pension Fund, he shall include all such deductions or payments in the statement which he is required to furnish under section 108.
8. Liabilities of trustees on cessation of approval of fund.- If a fund or a part of a fund, for any reason, ceases to be an approved Superannuation fund or Pension Fund, the trustees of the fund shall nevertheless remain liable to account for tax on any sum paid-
(a) on account of returned contributions (including interest on contributions, if any); and
(b) in commutation or in lieu of annuities; in so far as the sum so paid is in respect of contributions made before the fund or part of the fund ceased to be an approved fund under the provisions of this Part.
9. Particulars to be furnished in respect of Superannuation fund or Pension Fund.-
The trustees of an approved Superannuation fund or Pension Fund and any employer who contributes to an approved Superannuation fund or Pension Fund shall, when required by notice from the Deputy Commissioner of Taxes, within twenty-one days of the date of such notice,-
(a) furnish to the Deputy Commissioner of Taxes a return containing such particulars of contributions made to the fund as the notice may require;
(b) prepare and deliver to the Deputy Commissioner of Taxes a return containing-(i) the name and place of residence of every person in receipt of an annuity from the fund;
(ii) the amount of the annuity payable to each annuitant;
(iii) particulars of every contribution (including interest on contribution, if any) returned to the employer or to employees; and
(iv) particulars of sums paid in commutation or in lieu of annuities; and
(c) furnish to the Deputy Commissioner of Taxes a copy of the accounts of the fund to the last date prior to such notice to which such accounts have been made up, together with such other information and particulars as the Board may require.
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1Subs. the words for "Superannuation Funds" and " Superannuation Fund" in Part-A by F.A.2000
2Subs. by F.A. 1999
3Subs. for "Deputy Commissioner of Taxes by whom the employer is assessable" by F.A. 2000