Managed Payroll Services for Bangladesh Employers
PayrollBD runs managed payroll for employers in Bangladesh. Each month we compute pay, deduct tax at source under the Income Tax Act 2023, issue wage slips, and file the monthly withholding return with the National Board of Revenue. Your wage register and payment record stay audit-ready under the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006. ✓ Reviewed by Eicra Binte Islam, PayrollBD
What does a monthly payroll run cover?
A payroll run is the monthly cycle that turns attendance into paid wages, deducted tax and filed records. PayrollBD runs six stages each month. Every stage ends in a document you can check, and each one names the law it answers to.
How does a pay run work?
A pay run works in seven steps, and each one closes before the next begins. The output is a dated pack carrying the gross-to-net working for every worker, the tax deducted, the wage slips issued and the return filed. The steps below run in this order every pay month.
- Collect — attendance, leave and overtime hours reach us in one file.
- Verify — we check the hours against your appointment letters and pay terms.
- Compute — gross pay is built, then overtime is added at twice the ordinary rate.
- Deduct — tax at source is worked out under section 86 of the Income Tax Act 2023.
- Approve — you sign off the register before any money moves.
- Pay — wages are released and wage slips go out for the wage period.
- File — the monthly return of tax deducted goes to the National Board of Revenue.
What must you send?
You send seven things each month, and the order matters because each one feeds the next. Attendance arriving late is the usual reason a pay run slips, so it heads the list. Everything below is drawn from records you already keep for the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006.
- Attendance and leave — the raw record for the wage period, worker by worker.
- Overtime hours — hours worked beyond the normal day, kept separate from basic hours.
- Pay changes — raises, transfers, new appointment letters and revised terms.
- Bank details — account data for each worker being paid by transfer.
- Tax details — the taxpayer identification number held for each worker.
- Fund elections — provident fund choices, where your establishment runs a fund.
- Leaver notice — written notice of every exit, with the date it took effect.
- Related work — the run itself sits in our payroll processing service.
Which deadlines does Bangladesh law set?
Four clocks bind almost every employer in Bangladesh. Each one starts on an event rather than on a calendar date. None of them can be extended by agreement with a payroll provider. Each is set by primary law, and the wording sits in the Income Tax Act 2023 and the Labour Act.
| Payroll duty | Clock starts on | Limit set by law |
|---|---|---|
| Length of a wage period | Start of the wage period | Not more than one month, under section 122 (Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006) |
| Payment of wages | Last day of the wage period | Before the seventh working day, under section 123 (Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006) |
| Return of tax deducted | End of the month of deduction | By the fifteenth of the next month, under section 177 (Income Tax Act, 2023) |
| Final dues after exit | Date the job ends | Within thirty working days, under section 123 (Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006) |
| Payroll model | Who computes pay | Who files the return | Who holds the register |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-house team | Your own staff | Your own staff | Your office |
| Managed payroll | PayrollBD | PayrollBD | PayrollBD, copied to you |
| Split model | Your own staff | PayrollBD | Shared, set in the scope note |
- Wage register — the record required under section 121, read with rule 111 (Bangladesh Labour Rules, 2015), kept on Form 38.
- Wage slip — issued to each worker for each wage period, drawn from the same register.
- Withholding return — the monthly return of tax deducted at source, filed under section 177 (Income Tax Act, 2023).
- Overtime sheet — hours beyond the normal day, paid at twice the ordinary rate under section 108.
- Provident fund file — where your workers have called for a fund under section 264, the member and contribution record.
- Exit pack — the final dues working, the clearance record and the date payment was made.
- Inspection copy — the same set, ready for the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments.
How does a payroll enquiry work?
You get questions first, then a written scope note, and no data moves before you agree it. We ask how many workers you pay, how your wage periods run, and whether a provident fund exists. The scope note then names what we do, what stays with you, and which filings we sign.
PayrollBD works with partner firms outside Bangladesh, so an employer setting up here can keep one point of contact. Local counsel handles company law and tax filing in each place. Payroll data stays inside the engagement team.
We also arrange
- Company structure design
- Foreign entity registration
- Appointing local directors
- Named company secretary
- Local bank account opening
- Other local registrations
What do employers ask before signing?
The questions below come from the enquiry stage of Bangladesh payroll files. Each answer states the position first and then gives the reason behind it. Where an answer rests on the law rather than on PayrollBD, the answer says so plainly instead of implying a promise that no provider can make.
Full or part managed payroll?
Both work, and the split is decided by who holds the wage register. Fully managed means PayrollBD computes pay, deducts tax at source, issues wage slips and files the monthly return. Part managed means your team computes pay and PayrollBD handles the filing side only. The deciding question is not company size. It is whether you want the record kept in one place or split between two.
How long does setup take?
Setup runs in four stages, and the length depends on how complete your staff records already are. An employer with clean appointment letters and a usable attendance record moves fastest. The stages below are the same for every employer, whatever the worker count.
- We list your workers, their pay terms and their wage periods.
- We rebuild the opening wage register from your existing records.
- We run one parallel month beside your current process and compare the two.
- We cut over, and the first live run goes out under the new register.
How much control do I keep?
You keep every approval. PayrollBD computes and prepares, but no payment is released and no return is filed until you sign off the register for that wage period. You also keep the underlying record, because a copy of the wage register and every wage slip is returned to you each month. Legal duty under the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 rests with the employer, not with the payroll provider, and no contract moves it.
What decides the workload?
Scope is set by three things. They are how many workers you pay, how many wage periods you run in a month, and whether a provident fund is in place. A single monthly wage period for salaried staff is the simplest case. Weekly wage periods, heavy overtime, or a fund under section 264 of the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 each add work. The scope note lists which of these apply before anything begins.
Which employers does it fit?
Any employer with workers on a Bangladesh payroll can use it. It suits employers with regular wage periods, separately tracked overtime, and a monthly return of tax deducted that has to reach the National Board of Revenue on time. It suits informal arrangements poorly. Where no attendance record is kept there is nothing to build a wage register from, and that has to be fixed first.
Start your payroll handover
Send your worker count, your wage period pattern and the way you run pay today. PayrollBD replies with a written scope note. It names the filings we prepare, the approvals that stay with you, and the records that return to your office each month. Nothing is filed before you agree that note.