Bringing a new phone to Bangladesh — what will I owe?

Phones are the allowance that changed most recently, and most of the advice still circulating online is out of date. If someone tells you to expect a Tk 5,000, Tk 10,000 or Tk 25,000 charge depending on handset value, they are quoting a rule that no longer exists.

The short answer

New phones: one per calendar year, duty-free.
With a BMET / expat card: two per calendar year, duty-free.
Used phones: two handsets, duty-free, on top of the new-phone allowance.
Anything beyond those allowances is dutiable and assessed on arrival — there is no fixed published slab to quote you.

What changed in July 2025

The old system charged a flat amount per handset, banded by value. SRO 312 abolished those bands. The allowance is now counted in units per year, not in Taka per handset.

The practical effect: a single expensive flagship that would once have attracted the top band now comes in free, because it is your one new phone for the year. Conversely, three cheap handsets are no longer three small charges — two of them are simply over the allowance.

The BMET card doubles the new-phone allowance

If you hold a BMET (Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training) card or an equivalent expat card, your new-phone allowance is two per calendar year instead of one. The used-handset allowance is unchanged.

The calculator has a BMET checkbox — tick it and the allowance adjusts.

New versus used: what counts as which?

This is the judgement call that happens at the desk, not in the rules. In practice a handset is treated as used if it is clearly not retail-fresh: out of its packaging, set up with your account, visibly worn. A sealed box reads as new.

Two things follow from that:

Do not unbox a phone to disguise it as used. The allowances are generous enough that it is rarely worth it, and a misdeclaration is a much bigger problem than a duty payment.
If the phone is genuinely your daily handset, carry it as one. A phone in your pocket, in use, is the ordinary case the used allowance exists for.

Over the allowance

If you are bringing more than the allowance, expect assessment at the red channel. We do not publish an estimated figure for the excess, because SRO 312 replaced the old slabs and we have not transcribed a replacement schedule from a primary source. Guessing at it would be exactly the kind of confident-but-wrong number this site exists to replace.

Which channel do I use?

Within the allowances: green channel.
Over on any count: red channel, and declare the excess.

What we could not verify

The duty rate applied to handsets over the allowance. SRO 312 removed the old slab table and we have not confirmed what replaced it. The page says so rather than estimating.

Common questions

How many phones can I bring in duty-free?

1 new handset per calendar year, or 2 if you hold a BMET or equivalent expat card. 2 used handsets are duty-free on top of that. Sources: SRO 312 (Jul 2025) for new handsets, the Baggage (Import) Rules, NBR for used ones.

Do the old value-based phone slabs still apply?

The allowance is now counted in units per calendar year rather than in Taka per handset, and in practice the old value bands are no longer charged. We do not state their formal repeal as settled - SRO 312 (Jul 2025) is the source for the new allowance, and we have not confirmed the repeal from the SRO text.

What happens if I bring more phones than the allowance?

Anything beyond the allowance is dutiable and assessed at the red channel on arrival. We publish no figure for the excess, because SRO 312 replaced the old bands and we have not transcribed what replaced them. Ask at the desk rather than budgeting against a guess.

What counts as a used phone rather than a new one?

It is a judgement made at the desk, not a rule we can quote. In practice a handset out of its packaging, set up and in daily use reads as used, and a sealed box reads as new. Do not unbox a phone to reclassify it: a misdeclaration is a far bigger problem than a duty payment.

Does a BMET card change the used-phone allowance?

No. The card doubles the new-phone allowance from 1 to 2 per calendar year. The used-handset allowance stays at 2. Source: SRO 312 (Jul 2025).