BD Tariff.

Guides

How Bangladesh import duty actually works — written for people who have to produce a number, not a theory.

The rules around the rates

Exemptions, the budget cycle, bonded warehouses and the shape of the schedule as a whole.

The 61 codes NBR records but the published tariff omits NBR's import statements record 61 eight-digit codes the Operative Tariff does not list, carrying BDT 314 crore. Obsolete HS 2017 codes, declarations filed at subheading level, and national splits that were never published. 8 min read The shape of the Bangladesh tariff: what 7,469 lines look like together Six values cover 70% of the tariff. Supplementary duty is zero on 78% of lines. An analysis of the complete 2026-2027 schedule. 10 min read Bonded warehouses: how exporters avoid 80% duty on their inputs Knitted fabric averages 79.23% in the published tariff. The garment industry could not exist if it paid that. How the bond facility works. 9 min read How the June budget changes your duty rates A landed cost calculated in May can be wrong in July. Which components actually move, and what happens to goods already on the water. 9 min read What an SRO is, and how to find out whether one applies to you The published tariff is the default, not the final word. An SRO can cut a 118% line to roughly 33% — three times the headline reduction. 9 min read What Bangladesh lets in cheaply: the 152 lines under 10% Seven lines carry no tax at all, and five carry 1%. Seeds, disability aids, vaccines and computers: the cheapest end of a tariff averaging 61.08%. 9 min read The most heavily taxed imports: why a car reaches 1,007.5% Cars at 1,007.5%, whisky at 636.63%. How supplementary duty compounds through the cascade, and how rare these rates actually are. 10 min read

Real products, step by step

We take an actual HS code, put a value on it, and show every taka of tax from start to finish — sector by sector.

Baggage rules: why a 55-inch TV costs BDT 70,000 in duty Chapter 98 charges passenger baggage in fixed taka amounts, not percentages. All 21 lines: televisions by size, phones by value, appliances. 9 min read Importing mobile phones: 64.25% on a handset, 20.25% on a router Every line in heading 8517, from smartphones at 64.25% to network routers at 20.25%. Why consumer devices are taxed three times harder. 9 min read Importing laptops and computers: 9.5%, and the traps around it Finished computers carry 9.5%, one of the lowest rates in the tariff. Monitors can carry 33.63%. The whole of heading 8471 explained. 9 min read Importing furniture: why the chair costs more than the desk Sixty-six lines from 17.88% to 159.8%. A seat is not furniture in the tariff, and frame material alone can swing the tax by 71 points. 9 min read Importing cosmetics: 25% customs duty on every line, 64% to 189% in tax Every line in chapter 33 carries identical customs duty, yet the total tax varies three-fold. Shampoo is taxed at nearly twice its value. 8 min read Motorcycle or car: how one tariff chapter spans 39.75% to 1,007.5% Both are vehicles, both carry 25% customs duty, and the total tax differs by nearly a thousand points. Supplementary duty explains all of it. 9 min read Importing sugar and edible oil: fixed duties and the zero-VAT quirk Sugar is charged a fixed sum per tonne, not a percentage. Crude palm oil carries 0% VAT. Neither behaves the way the rest of the tariff does. 9 min read Importing machinery into Bangladesh: why most of chapter 84 is taxed at 1% 648 tariff lines, and 60% of them carry just 1% customs duty. The exceptions — and the parts trap — are where it costs you. 8 min read Importing electronics: how chapter 85 splits from 9.5% to 223.5% A computer monitor enters almost free; an electronic cigarette pays more than twice its value. What decides which side you are on. 8 min read Importing steel: specific duties, the rebar trap, and five lines to distrust Chapter 72 holds 17 of the tariff's 58 specific-duty lines, and the product with the lower customs duty can carry twice the total tax. 9 min read Importing textiles and apparel: the tariff ladder from fibre to garment Raw cotton enters free, fabric at 80%, finished garments above 100%. Plus the bonded warehouse caveat that changes everything for exporters. 9 min read How import duty stacks up on a reconditioned car in Bangladesh Vehicles carry the highest tax incidence in the tariff. A worked example of why a car can cost more in duty than it did to buy. 9 min read

How the tax is worked out

The arithmetic behind the figure you pay at the port.

Minimum values and tariff values: when your invoice is not accepted Right code, right rate, bigger bill. On a line above 100% TTI, every taka added to the assessable value costs you more than a taka. 9 min read How to check whether a quoted landed cost is plausible One division tells you whether your agent's bill is in the right region. The reverse TTI check, and the four times it legitimately fails. 9 min read FOB, CIF or CFR: how your Incoterm changes the tax you pay Duty is assessed on CIF, not on your invoice. Quoting from an FOB figure left one importer BDT 531,675 short on a shipment that went right. 8 min read Which import taxes can you actually recover? A 64.25% TTI on phones is really nearer 30% for a registered importer. On a high-SD car, the headline figure is the whole truth. 9 min read Why Total Tax Incidence is not the sum of the duty columns Add up the columns and you get the wrong answer. TTI is a cascade, not a total. Here is how the stacking works. 8 min read Assessable value: the number every duty percentage is applied to Duty is not charged on your invoice price. Understanding assessable value is the difference between an estimate and a costing. 8 min read Specific duty vs ad valorem: why some lines show Taka per tonne A handful of tariff lines charge a fixed amount per unit instead of a percentage. Misreading one of these is an expensive mistake. 6 min read

Start here — the basics

What the codes mean and how the system is put together.

What a C&F agent actually does for your import The agent owns the process; you own the facts. What transfers with the appointment, what stays yours, and how to judge whether yours is good. 9 min read The import documents checklist: LC, invoice, packing list, BL and CO Most delays at Chattogram are not duty disputes. They are paperwork that does not agree with itself. The full set, and the five mismatches. 9 min read Reading the "Other" line: residual HS codes and why they are risky One tariff line in seven is a residual category. They range from 0% to 621.63%, and falling into one can cost you 84 percentage points. 9 min read CBU, CKD and SKD: why the same vehicle is taxed three different ways Knocking a motorcycle down before shipping cuts the total tax by 63 percentage points. What that saving actually requires of you. 8 min read How to read a Bangladesh HS code: chapter, heading and the 8-digit line An 8-digit HS code is three pieces of information stacked together. Learn to read each part and find the right tariff line. 7 min read CD, SD, VAT, AIT, RD and AT: what each column on a tariff line means Six separate taxes sit behind one import. What each one is, who it falls on, and which are recoverable. 9 min read