National Board of Revenue (NBR) has formally urged the Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) to intervene in the recovery of Tk9,306.54 crore in unpaid taxes owed by state-owned Petrobangla, according to an official letter seen by Just Energy News.
In a letter dated 17 May, 2026, NBR Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan requested EMRD Secretary Mohammad Saiful Islam to help settle outstanding value-added tax (VAT) arrears amounting to Tk9,306.54 crore owed by Petrobangla.
The letter states that Petrobangla’s total VAT liability accumulated between July 2009 and July 2021 reached Tk22,584.54 crore.
Following a meeting involving the Finance Division, the NBR and the EMRD, Petrobangla reportedly deposited Tk13,278 crore earlier under a government-backed settlement arrangement, leaving the remaining balance unpaid.
The NBR chairman warned that recovering the outstanding dues is critical for revenue mobilisation efforts at a time when the government faces mounting fiscal pressure and ambitious collection targets for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
According to the letter, the NBR has set a tax collection target of Tk5.54 lakh crore for FY26, including more than Tk2.05 lakh crore from domestic VAT collection.
The appeal highlights growing concern within the government over large unpaid liabilities owed by state-owned energy entities, particularly as rising global fuel prices, LNG import costs and foreign exchange shortages continue to strain public finances.
The latest intervention request suggests the NBR is intensifying efforts to recover long-standing arrears from state-owned enterprises amid widening fiscal deficits and persistent revenue shortfalls.
Analysts say successful recovery of the remaining dues could provide a significant boost to Bangladesh’s strained public finances.
Neither the NBR nor the EMRD immediately commented publicly on the letter.
Petrobangla seeks VAT waiver
In a separate letter to the EMRD dated 21 May, 2026, Petrobangla Chairman Md Abdul Mannan formally sought a waiver of Tk8,775.83 crore in disputed VAT and supplementary duty claims, arguing that the liabilities stemmed from government pricing policies and losses incurred to maintain gas supplies during a prolonged energy crisis.
Petrobangla asked the government and the NBR to exempt it from paying Tk8,775.83 crore in outstanding taxes linked to imported LNG and gas supplied by international oil companies (IOCs).
The dispute centres on VAT and supplementary duty claims raised by the Large Taxpayer Unit (LTU-VAT) covering the period from 2009 to 2026.
According to official correspondence, Petrobangla calculated total outstanding VAT (15%) and supplementary duty (40%) liabilities at Tk10,550.25 crore between July 2009 and March 2026.
However, the company argues that most of the amount cannot realistically be repaid because the funds were used to offset gas price deficits and maintain subsidised energy supplies for consumers.
The documents reveal that the government had previously arranged an interest-free long-term loan that enabled Petrobangla to pay Tk13,278 crore in earlier VAT arrears. Despite that payment, authorities say Tk3,542.04 crore from older claims remains unresolved.
Petrobangla claims the money was spent to bridge the “price gap” between costly imported LNG and regulated domestic gas prices set below market rates.
Officials warned that failure to make those payments earlier could have triggered significant late-payment penalties under international production-sharing agreements tied to dollar-denominated interest rates.
The state-owned company also argued that part of the disputed tax burden arose from conflicting directives issued by the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) and the NBR regarding whether VAT paid at the LNG import stage could later be adjusted against VAT collected from consumers.
One section of the documents states that Petrobangla collected and paid VAT according to BERC pricing orders issued in 2018, but later learned that the rebate mechanism was deemed invalid under subsequent NBR guidance issued in December 2020.
As a result, Petrobangla says it now faces unpaid consumer-level VAT liabilities of Tk3,407.87 crore for the LNG and IOC sectors covering the period from October 2018 to December 2020.
The documents further show that Petrobangla argued it could not recover the disputed taxes from consumers because the levies were never incorporated into government-approved gas prices.
Bangladesh has sharply increased LNG imports since 2018 to compensate for declining domestic gas production and prevent power shortages in the industrial sector.
However, soaring LNG import costs and a weakening local currency have placed growing pressure on public finances and state-owned energy companies.
The latest dispute exposes mounting fiscal tensions within the government as revenue authorities intensify efforts to recover unpaid taxes while Petrobangla seeks relief from liabilities accumulated during years of fuel subsidies and below-cost energy pricing.