A final decision has been made to split the National Board of Revenue (NBR) into two separate and transparent institutions, Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury has said.

Under the new structure, one institution will be the Revenue Policy Division, while the other will be the Revenue Management Division.

The minister made the remarks while speaking at the ‘Revenue Conference-2026’ held at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the capital on Tuesday (August 18).

Amir Khosru said the Revenue Policy Division would work as the government’s ‘think tank’. Comprising experts, the institution would formulate a balanced, competitive and development-friendly tax framework. The Revenue Management Division, on the other hand, would serve as an ‘action team’ responsible for ensuring effective revenue collection.

He said simplifying the tax payment process and ensuring proper enforcement of the law would be among the government’s key priorities. Economists, private-sector representatives, researchers, and experts from trade and business organizations would be given importance in formulating revenue policies.

The finance minister said the country’s economy has expanded, but the state’s capacity to collect revenue has not increased proportionately. To bridge this gap, the government cannot simply impose a higher tax burden on existing taxpayers. Instead, it must expand the tax base, rationalize tax exemptions, prevent tax evasion and avoidance, and improve taxpayer compliance through automation.

He said the revenue collection target for the 2026–27 fiscal year has been set at Tk 604,000 crore, which is 46 percent higher than the previous fiscal year. Although the target is ambitious, he said it was deliberately set at that level.

Amir Khosru said the government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, aims to shift the economy from debt-dependent growth to an investment-driven economy. Development financing, he added, must increasingly come from the country’s own resources.