Bangladesh Bookkeeping & Records

General reference only. This skill is general tax/accounting reference material for AI-assisted workflows. It has not been reviewed for any specific person's facts, documents, elections, deadlines, residency, filing status, or local procedures. Do not rely on it to file, pay, amend, or take a tax position without review by a qualified professional in the relevant jurisdiction.

Section 1 — Quick Reference

Field	Value
Country	Bangladesh
Currency	BDT (৳)
Tax authority	National Board of Revenue (NBR); e-Return at etaxnbr.gov.bd
Core records	Income/receipts, expenses, bank statements, invoices, asset register
IT exporter must keep	Bank remittance/encashment certificates for every foreign receipt (also unlocks the export cash incentive)
Retention	Keep records to support the return (generally 6 years — verify)
Skill version	1.0

Section 2 — What to keep (Tier 1)

• Income: client invoices, platform statements (Upwork/Fiverr), bank credits. For exporters, the bank remittance / foreign-currency encashment certificate is essential — it evidences export income and any ICT cash incentive (see bd-it-freelancer-tax).
• Expenses: vendor bills, rent/utility receipts, equipment (for the asset register/depreciation), software/subscriptions.
• Bank: full-year statements for all accounts (BDT and foreign-currency).
• Tax: prior e-Returns, TDS certificates (for credit), trade licence, TIN.

Section 3 — Invoicing & VAT records

• A business individual issues invoices showing the TIN (and BIN if VAT-registered). VAT-registered businesses keep the prescribed VAT records / Mushak forms and may use the NBR's electronic VAT (EFD/SDC) where applicable (see bangladesh-vat).

Section 4 — Worked example

A freelancer keeps: monthly platform statements, the bank encashment certificate for each remittance, a simple expense sheet (laptop, internet, software), and the year-end bank statement — enough to support the e-Return and claim the export incentive.

Section 10 — Prohibitions

• NEVER let an IT exporter discard remittance/encashment certificates.
• NEVER mix domestic and export income without separating the records.
• NEVER state the retention period without verifying the current rule.

Disclaimer

Informational only; not advice. Verify record/retention requirements with the NBR. All outputs must be reviewed and signed off by a qualified Bangladeshi practitioner. Maintained at openaccountants.com.