Payroll Except Operations
Expat payroll in Bangladesh is payroll for foreign nationals employed here: salary paid in the same cycle as local staff, tax deducted at the right residency status, records kept so the employee can remit salary home under the Bangladesh Bank rule, and permit dates tracked so renewal never stops pay. As a Dhaka-based company, we run it for international employers at a fixed price, with a payroll accountant and a human resources (HR) administrator who track residency, remittance and permit dates, working inside your payroll system under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA); your owner approves every register.
One exit at each step. No long-term commitment at any of them. We start with each foreign national on your Bangladesh payroll: contract, arrival date, work permit and expiry, days in country this income year, how salary is paid and how much has been remitted. Each person’s residency status, remittance headroom and permit date are written down, and the first calendar is drawn.
You get a written verdict — expat payroll alongside your local run, a residency and remittance clean-up for staff already paid, the full local payroll because nobody runs it yet, or a work permit first because employment has not lawfully begun. If every record is in order, you stop here and keep the review.
30 minutes 01 Scope · free call
1 week 02 Diagnose · credited to the first cycle
One cycle 03 Pilot · fixed price per employer
Per person 04 Production · per month, fixed in the contract
Monthly 05 Managed Ops · inside the per-person price, cancel any month
What is included in expat payroll in Bangladesh?
Expat payroll in Bangladesh involves six things beyond paying a foreign national’s salary, and our service covers all of them: a residency check per person per year, tax at source at that status, the records behind the 80/20 remittance, permit dates in the payroll file, one register for everyone, and year-end documents. Each card is one deliverable.
Tax residency check, per person, per year
Days in Bangladesh counted against the Income Tax Act tests at the start of each income year and re-checked as travel changes, so each foreign national is taxed as resident or non-resident on the right basis from the first payslip, with the count and its evidence kept in the file.
Salary tax deducted at the right status
Gross-to-net calculated per foreign national with tax deducted at source under the Income Tax Act at the residency status on file, deposited on its date, and shown line by line on the register your owner approves before payment.
Records behind the 80/20 remittance
For each person, the net-of-tax income, the amount already remitted in the year and the headroom left under the Bangladesh Bank rule, kept current every cycle so the employee’s bank has what it asks for and the year-end balance can be certified and sent.
Work permit dates in the payroll file
Permit issue and expiry dates, the issuing authority and the renewal lead time recorded against each foreign national, with an alert to you ahead of expiry, because an expired permit stops lawful employment and therefore pay. The application itself runs on our work permit page.
One register for local and foreign staff
Local employees and foreign nationals in one monthly register with one version number: the expat lines carry residency status, remittance headroom and permit date as extra columns, so your owner approves one file and nobody runs two payrolls.
Year-end documents per foreign national
The salary and tax deduction statements each foreign national needs for the year-end return and for remitting the retained twenty percent after assessment, prepared from the register, dated, and filed in the employee record your auditor can open.
Not included: Moving funds abroad · applying for work permits · advice on law, tax or immigration · new entities, new authorities or changes in the law, priced first as a change request.
Which expat payroll rule will catch your Bangladesh entity first: residency, remittance, permit or ratio?
Four rules make expat payroll different from local payroll, and the review says which your entity is nearest to breaking: the residency test that sets the tax basis, the Bangladesh Bank cap on remittance, the work permit without which employment is unlawful, and the investment authority’s staff ratio. Each card names the rule and when it bites.
Residency test
Income Tax Act, section 2(45): resident after 183 days in the income year, or 90 days with 365 in the previous four — when nobody counted the days.
80/20 remittance
Bangladesh Bank rule: up to 80% of net-of-tax income may be remitted during the year, the balance after the year’s assessment — when no record shows the headroom.
Work permit
Issued by the investment authority, export processing zone or economic zone authority, usually for one year — when the expiry date sits in nobody’s calendar.
Staff ratio
The investment authority’s local-to-foreign staff ratio, set separately for commercial offices and industrial projects — when the next expat hire breaks it.
How does the first expat payroll cycle run, from signed review to paid salaries?
The first expat payroll cycle runs in five logged steps, and every item in the log traces to a person, a rule, an approver and a date. The example below is a subsidiary with fourteen local employees and three foreign nationals who had been paid as locals for eight months. Yellow marks where a person signs.
The first cycle · five logged steps
- 1Review signed3 foreign nationals · days counted from arrival · 2 resident, 1 non-resident · permit dates loaded · owner named
- 2Records rebuiltEight months of pay re-based at the right status · remittances to date totalled · headroom computed per person
- 3Register prepared17 lines, one version · expat columns: status, headroom, permit expiry · tax at source shown per line
- 4Owner sign-offYour owner approves the combined register · approval logged with date and version · payment released
- 5Paid and filedSalaries paid inside the wage deadline · tax deposited · remittance records updated · first report in your system
What step 3 prepares · the combined register
| Register line | Residency status | Remittance headroom | Permit expiry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lines 1–14 · local employees | No expat columns | ||
| Line 15 · foreign national | Resident | Computed | Loaded, alert set |
| Line 16 · foreign national | Resident | Computed | Loaded, alert set |
| Line 17 · foreign national | Non-resident | Computed | Loaded, alert set |
17 lines, one versionTax at source shown per lineStep 4 · your owner approves it
Every month after: days re-counted, residency re-checked, headroom updated, permit alerts sent, the register approved and paid.
Illustrative run. Yellow marks the step where a person signs; every step is logged and traces to a person, a rule, an approver and a date.
How is expat payroll set up, from review to Managed Ops?
Expat payroll is set up in five steps, each an exit: a free scoping call, a one-week review, a first cycle with every record in place, production for later arrivals, then Managed Ops. Each ends with a file. It goes wrong when a foreign national is paid like a local and residency, remittance and permit questions surface at year end.
01 30 min · free
Scope A call about your foreign nationals: how many, arrival dates, permits held, how they are paid today and whether anyone has counted days or remittance. If headcount is known, you leave with a review quote.
02 1 week · credited
Diagnose Each person’s contract, permit, arrival date, year-to-date pay, tax and remittance read; residency status set for the year; remittance headroom computed; permit dates and staff ratio checked; gaps listed; the first cycle priced in writing.
03 One cycle · fixed price
Pilot First run with expat columns live: residency status applied, tax deducted at source, remittance record opened per person, permit dates loaded with alerts, combined register approved by your owner, salaries paid inside the wage deadline.
04 Per person · after the first cycle
Production Every later arrival onboarded with residency, remittance and permit records on day one, every departure closed with the year-end documents, the register issued monthly, with the per-person price fixed in the contract.
05 Monthly · cancel any month
Managed Ops The monthly cycle: days re-counted, residency re-checked as travel changes, remittance headroom updated, permit alerts sent, the register approved and paid, and the rules re-read when the tax law or a Bangladesh Bank circular changes.
Who runs your expat payroll, and with what?
On day one you meet a payroll accountant who owns residency status, tax at source and the remittance record, an HR administrator who owns permit dates and files, and a reviewer of every expat line.
Approval Your named owner approves every register before payment
References Income Tax Act, Bangladesh Bank circulars, authority guidance
Communication Monthly review call, shared channel
Delivery Your payroll and HR systems; nothing stored on our side
QA Second-person review of every expat line; versioned; approver named
Ownership Every register, residency note and remittance record in your name
Do you need expat payroll, a records clean-up, full local payroll, or a work permit first?
Buyers of expat payroll arrive in one of four situations. Foreign nationals on a local payroll with no expat records → expat payroll alongside it. People paid for months with no residency or remittance record → a clean-up first. Nobody running Bangladesh payroll → the full local payroll with expat lines inside. No valid permit → the permit first. Five questions show which fits.
1. How many foreign nationals do you employ in Bangladesh?
2. Do they all hold a valid work permit?
3. Who runs your local payroll today?
4. Is residency status tracked per person?
5. Is in-year remittance recorded per person?
Which one do you need? Answer five questions.
Expat payroll alongside your local run
Your local payroll works and the foreign nationals in it need the expat columns: residency status set per year, tax at source at that status, a remittance record per person and permit dates with alerts, all inside the one register your owner already approves, priced per foreign national per month.
A first estimate; the diagnostic confirms it.
How the verdict is decided
Any foreign national without a valid permit → work permit first
Nobody runs local payroll → full local payroll with expat lines
Paid for months with no residency or remittance record → clean-up first
Otherwise → expat payroll alongside your local run
Why choose us for expat payroll in Bangladesh?
Expat payroll is judged at year end, when a foreign national asks for documents to remit the balance and the return asks which Income Tax Act residency basis applied. The Bangladesh Bank rule lets a foreign national remit up to 80% of net-of-tax income in-year and the rest after assessment; the record proving the headroom is what this page keeps.
Without expat-specific payroll
!!!!!
- A foreign national taxed as resident, or non-resident, because nobody counted the days
- A bank refusing a salary remittance because no record shows the year’s headroom
- A permit that expired in a drawer, and a month of pay nobody should have run
- Two payrolls — local and expat — reconciled by hand at year end
With EICRA
First-cycle report · three foreign nationals
Foreign nationals on file3 of 3Months re-based8Gaps closed6Approvals recorded2VerdictFirst cycle acceptedAgreed gate✓ Passed
Illustrative example
- Residency status set per person per year, with the day count on file
- Remittance headroom computed every cycle and certified at year end
- Permit expiry alerts weeks ahead, with the application page one click away
- One register, one approval, local and foreign lines side by side
Is it safe to outsource expat payroll in Bangladesh?
Outsourcing expat payroll is safe when your owner approves every register and access is limited. The risk is not where the accountant sits but who approves payments, who sees passport, permit and salary data, and whether the day count is evidenced. As a Bangladesh-based company, our offshore team works in your systems under NDA and pays nothing unapproved. Reviewed By Eicra.com team
Which agreements are signed, and when?
NDA — mutual, signed before any contract, passport copy, permit, salary figure or remittance record is shared with anyone.
DPA — a data processing agreement (DPA) with processor terms under Article 28(3) of the GDPR where it applies, and Bangladesh’s personal data protection law for the employee data we process.
International data transfers — standard contractual clauses or the transfer instrument your jurisdiction requires, signed before employee data moves.
Access — the payroll and HR modules the scope names, nothing more; no bank credentials, no payment authority, no production systems of yours.
Certifications — listed only when held; none are claimed, and we are not a bank, an immigration agent, a law firm or a tax adviser.
What controls, intellectual property (IP) and rework terms apply?
Your accounts Every register, payslip, residency note, remittance record and permit copy lives in your payroll and HR systems from the first day; nothing is stored on our side.
Document ownership All records belong to you under the contract; you may export them, hand them to an auditor or the employee, or move them to another provider at any time.
Boundary We run payroll and keep the records; we do not move funds abroad, apply for permits on this page, give legal or tax advice, or decide questions the law leaves to the employer or the employee’s bank — you and your counsel decide.
Approval No salary, tax deposit or document is released until your named owner has approved that cycle’s register; approvals, dates and versions are recorded.
Rework Free when a register line fails its agreed acceptance list within thirty days; new entities, new authorities or changes in the law are priced first as a change request.
What proof do you get before you pay for expat payroll?
Before you pay for expat payroll, you can check three commitments of ours: a free scoping call, a one-week review after which you get each foreign national’s residency and remittance record, and a first cycle with no setup fee if it misses its agreed record list. Stop at any step: a written result comes with each.
30 minutes
A free scoping call about your foreign nationals: how many, their permits and how they are paid today. If headcount is known, you leave with a review quote.
1 week
The review sets each person’s residency status, computes remittance headroom, checks permit dates and lists every gap in writing; it is credited to the first cycle.
One cycle
To every foreign national’s residency status, remittance record and permit date on file and the first register approved; no setup fee if it misses its agreed record list.
Case studies: client results with numbers are added here as clients give permission to name them. Ask on the scoping call for references in your industry.
What do buyers ask about expat payroll in Bangladesh?
How much does expat payroll in Bangladesh cost?
Expat payroll in Bangladesh is priced per foreign national, never per hour, and each step is on the price cards at the top: a one-week review ending in each person’s written residency, remittance and permit record, credited to the first cycle; the first cycle with the expat columns live, fixed per employer; then administration per person per month.
What does expat payroll in Bangladesh include?
Expat payroll is payroll for foreign nationals employed in Bangladesh, not Bangladeshis working abroad. It includes monthly salary calculation, tax deducted at source at the right residency status, payslips, the records supporting in-year salary remittance under the Bangladesh Bank rule, work permit dates with alerts, and the year-end statements each person needs; expatriate and local payroll run in one register.
When is a foreign national tax resident in Bangladesh?
Under section 2(45) of the Income Tax Act, a person is resident after 183 days or more in Bangladesh in the income year, or after 90 days or more if they spent 365 days or more here over the previous four years. We count the days from arrival, set the status each year and re-check it as travel changes.
How much salary can a foreign national remit home?
Under the Bangladesh Bank rule, a foreign national may remit up to 80% of net-of-tax income during the year, up from 75% before; the retained balance may be repatriated at the end of each fiscal year once the tax assessment is complete and certified. We keep the running headroom per person for the bank.
Can we switch expat payroll to you, and what won’t you do?
Yes. Switching starts with a handover of each foreign national’s contract, permit, year-to-date pay, tax and remittance history; we reconstruct the day count and headroom, list every gap in writing, and run the first cycle only after you approve that list. We never move funds abroad, apply for permits on this page, or give legal, tax or immigration advice.
Start with a free scoping call or the one-week expat payroll review.