NBR revenue shortfall swells to Tk 10,671cr: Shortfall in revenue collection by the National Board of Revenue continued to widen as the NBR fell short of target by Tk 10,690 crore in the first seven months of the current financial year 2013-14, officials of the revenue board said. The revenue board managed to collect Tk 58,557 crore in July-January against the target of Tk 69,229 crore set for the period, they said. The gap between revenue collection and target widened by Tk 2,170.55 crore from Tk 8,509.69 crore till July-December.
All the three wings of the NBR — income tax, value-added tax and customs duty — failed to achieve its respective target for the months, they added. ‘Progress in revenue collection which severely suffered in the first half of the FY14 amid political unrest and slowdown in business activities did not get momentum in January after significant development in political environment,’ a high NBR official told New Age on Wednesday. The target set for the period was also excessive compared with that of the same period of last year, he said.
The NBR set a revenue collection target of Tk 1,36,090 crore for the current financial year with the highest Tk 51,000 crore was envisaged to be collected in VAT, Tk 48,300 crore in income tax, Tk 35,790 crore in customs duties and Tk 1,000 crore in other taxes.
The revenue board has already urged the finance ministry for downsizing the target for the entire financial year by Tk 16,000 crore and set it at Tk 1,20,000 crore from Tk 1,36,090 crore. The finance ministry, however, primarily agreed to slash the target by Tk 11,000 crore, the officials said.
According to NBR data, in July-January, the NBR collected Tk 18,342 crore in customs duties, Tk 21,648 crore in VAT, Tk 18,324 crore in income tax and Tk 340 crore in other taxes.
Being worried due to such a big shortfall, the revenue board has called a daylong meeting with its field officials on March 2 to discuss the reasons behind slow progress in revenue collection and the way forward. The NBR will instruct its field offices to expedite activities related to unearthing tax evasion incidences and find out new sources of revenue earnings, the officials said.
The officials said that the slow growth in the revenue collection from different sub-sectors of the three wings resulted in wider deficit in the period. They, however, expressed hope that the deficit would reduce in coming months as the country is heading towards more political stability which will help improve overall business environment and increase export-import activities.
Source: 27-02-2014:The New Age: Newspaper
