DHAKA: The Bangladesh government can slash the NBR revenue collection target by Tk23,000 crore or 11% this fiscal year, said official sources.
The revenue collection target by the National Board of Revenue for the fiscal year 2016-17 is Tk2,03,152 crore.
The new target is likely to be Tk1,83,152 crore, said a Finance Division official. The slashing of target is likely due to shortage in value-added tax and income tax collections.
The amount was approved at the National Economic Council meeting recently. The meeting was held on the revised Annual Development Programme (ADP) with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
“Finance ministry will definitely be glad if the NBR can collect Tk1,70,000 crore at the end of the fiscal year,” said the finance division official.
In the pre-budget meeting, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said he was not “satisfied with the NBR collection.” “The NBR should do better to achieve the target.”
As per the data by the Controller General of Accounts, the tax revenue collection was Tk76,009 crore or 37.41% of total budget estimate during the first six months of the current fiscal year, which is better than last year’s.
Last year the NBR collection was Tk67,659 crore.
According to the Office of the Controller General of Accounts data, only Tk43,591 crore was collected during last the six months of the last fiscal year against the total target of Tk1,02,8 85 crore.
Tax on income and profit earnings stood at Tk22,108 crore in first six months this fiscal year, but the total earning was estimated at Tk71,940 crore while the earning from custom duties was Tk9,509 crore in six months although the total estimate was Tk22,450 crore.
In the NBR latest review, only 3% of business entities paid value added tax, who have Business Identification Number (BIN), but 97% of the business entities didn’t pay VAT yet.
