Importing mobile phones: 64.25% on a handset, 20.25% on a router
A smartphone imported into Bangladesh carries a total tax incidence of 64.25%. A router carries 20.25%. Both sit in heading 8517, three digits apart. The spread inside this one heading runs from 20.25% to 64.25% — a difference of more than three to one on goods a non-specialist would call "telecom equipment".
This guide lays out every line in heading 8517 as published in the Operative Tariff 2026-2027, and explains the logic that separates the cheap lines from the expensive ones.
Every line in heading 8517
| Code | Goods | CD | VAT | RD | TTI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 85171100 | Telephone sets with cordless handsets | 25% | 15% | 5% | 64.25% |
| 85171300 | Smartphones | 25% | 15% | 5% | 64.25% |
| 85171400 | Other telephones for cellular networks | 25% | 15% | 5% | 64.25% |
| 85171800 | Telephone sets for other wireless networks | 25% | 15% | 5% | 64.25% |
| 85176100 | Base stations and other transmission apparatus | 10% | 15% | 0% | 39.75% |
| 85176210 | Transmitting and receiving apparatus | 10% | 15% | 0% | 36.75% |
| 85176220 | Telephonic or telegraphic switching apparatus | 10% | 15% | 0% | 36.75% |
| 85176230 | Modem, Ethernet card, network switch, hub, router | 10% | 0% | 0% | 20.25% |
| 85176240 | Master clock, modulator, multiplexer, optical equipment | 10% | 15% | 0% | 39.75% |
| 85176250 | Wi-Fi, WiMAX, LAN card, access point | 10% | 15% | 0% | 39.75% |
| 85176260 | Antenna for base station | 10% | 15% | 0% | 39.75% |
| 85176270 | Smart watch | 25% | 15% | 5% | 64.25% |
| 85176290 | Other reception and transmission apparatus | 25% | 15% | 5% | 64.25% |
| 85176900 | Other telephone sets | 25% | 15% | 5% | 64.25% |
| 85177100 | Parts: aerials and aerial reflectors | 10% | 15% | 0% | 39.75% |
| 85177900 | Parts: not elsewhere specified | 10% | 15% | 0% | 35.75% |
The dividing line is "consumer device" versus "network equipment"
Read the table again and a pattern appears. Every line at 64.25% is something an individual buys and carries: a phone, a cordless handset, a smart watch. Every line below 40% is something an operator installs: a base station, a switch, a multiplexer, an antenna.
The mechanism is the same on both sides — the difference is made by two components:
- Customs duty of 25% versus 10%. Consumer devices carry the protective rate.
- Regulatory duty of 5% versus nothing. RD is applied only to the consumer lines.
Because VAT and advance tax both sit on a base that already includes CD and RD, those two differences compound. Fifteen extra points of customs duty and five of regulatory duty turn into roughly 24.5 points of extra total incidence.
The router line is the outlier worth knowing
85176230 — "Modem; Ethernet interface card; computer network switch, hub and router" — is the cheapest line in the heading at 20.25%, and it gets there differently from the others.
Its customs duty of 10% is the same as its neighbours. What makes it cheap is that VAT is zero where comparable lines carry 15%. That one exemption is worth about 16.5 points.
It is the same pattern seen on computers in heading 8471: where Bangladesh wants to encourage adoption of a technology, the relief usually arrives as a VAT exemption rather than a customs duty cut. If you are importing anything that plausibly belongs in this line, establishing that classification is worth real money.
Smart watches are taxed as phones, not as watches
85176270 gives smart watches 64.25% — CD 25%, RD 5%, the full consumer treatment. They sit in heading 8517 with telephones, not in chapter 91 with watches. An importer who assumes a watch is a watch will get the rate wrong by a wide margin.
Parts are cheaper than the finished device
Aerials come in at 39.75% and other parts at 35.75%, against 64.25% for a finished handset. The difference between the two parts lines is AIT: 5% on aerials, 1% on other parts. It is a small reminder that AIT is not uniform across the tariff, even within a single heading.
A worked example
A consignment of smartphones with an assessable value of BDT 1,000,000:
| Component | Rate | Base | Amount (BDT) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customs duty | 25% | 1,000,000 | 250,000 |
| Regulatory duty | 5% | 1,000,000 | 50,000 |
| Supplementary duty | 0% | 1,300,000 | 0 |
| VAT | 15% | 1,300,000 | 195,000 |
| Advance tax | 7.5% | 1,300,000 | 97,500 |
| AIT | 5% | 1,000,000 | 50,000 |
| Total | 64.25% | 642,500 |
Note the bases. VAT and advance tax are charged on 1,300,000, not on 1,000,000, because customs duty and regulatory duty have already been added. AIT alone is charged on the bare assessable value. That cascade is explained in full in how total tax incidence is calculated.
Bringing a phone in your luggage is different
Everything above concerns commercial import. A phone carried in personal baggage falls under chapter 98 and is charged a fixed amount in taka, not a percentage:
| Code | Handset value | Customs duty |
|---|---|---|
| 98010071 | Up to BDT 30,000 | BDT 5,000 |
| 98010072 | BDT 30,000 to 60,000 | BDT 10,000 |
| 98010079 | Above BDT 60,000 | BDT 25,000 |
These are specific duties, explained in specific duty versus ad valorem. Passenger baggage allowances and the number of handsets permitted are governed separately by the Baggage Rules, which change from time to time — confirm the current position before travelling.
Before you commit
- Settle the classification first. Inside this one heading the answer ranges from 20.25% to 64.25%.
- Network equipment is not consumer equipment in the eyes of the tariff, and the paperwork should make that plain.
- Check the live rate on the tariff line before you buy; heading 8517 is politically sensitive and moves at budget time.
- Chapter 85 as a whole averages 52.09% across its 412 lines, so a smartphone at 64.25% is above average even for electronics.