The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will be abolished and replaced by two separate institutions, Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said on Tuesday.

He made the announcement while speaking at the Revenue Conference 2026 at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the capital.

Under the new structure, one institution will be responsible for revenue policy, while the other will oversee revenue collection and management.

The revenue policy wing will function as a policy and research body, involving economists, researchers, private-sector representatives and business experts in developing a balanced, competitive and development-friendly tax framework.

The revenue management wing, meanwhile, will serve as the government’s “action team” for implementing revenue collection.

The finance minister said the government aims to simplify the tax system, expand the tax base and reduce tax evasion without putting additional pressure on existing taxpayers. He also stressed rationalising tax exemptions and increasing compliance through automation.

For fiscal year 2026-27, the government has set a revenue collection target of Tk 604,000 crore, which is 46% higher than the previous fiscal year’s target.

Amir Khosru said the government wants to move the economy from a debt-dependent model towards an investment-driven one and increase reliance on domestic revenue and resources to finance development.

He also emphasised building a fully automated and less person-dependent revenue administration so that taxpayers would not need to have direct contact with revenue officials except when necessary.

Highlighting Bangladesh’s low tax-to-GDP ratio, he said it stood at 6.7% in FY2024-25, compared with the Asia-Pacific average of 19.5% in 2023.