The National Board of Revenue has got Tk 1,191 crore in additional customs duty in the first two months of the current fiscal year of 2016-2017 after setting minimum value and specific tariff for import of around 200 products in the national budget.
Revenue collection increased in the period compared with that in the same period of the FY 2015-2016 just because of the measure taken to prevent duty evasion through under-invoicing of imported goods, according to the provisional data of the revenue board.
Overall customs duty collection grew by 22.78 per cent in the July-August period of this year due mainly to the measure and the increases in the volume of import goods, the data showed.
The customs wing of the NBR collected Tk 7,682 crore in the period, surpassing the collection target of Tk 7,602 crore set for the period.
Suspecting that importers evade duty through declaring lower prices than the actual ones of the imported products, the NBR in the budget for the current fiscal year set the minimum import value and specific tariff for import of around 200 items, mostly commercial, for the assessment purpose.
It took the step also with the aim of resolving valuation-related complexities through ensuring uniform valuation of imported products at all customs houses.
Both importers and customs officials used to engage in disputes during assessment over actual prices of imported goods as importers declared different prices at different houses for the same product while officials also made assessment at different prices in absence of a uniform value.
The minimum value has been set for import of fish, tea, sunflower oil, natural honey, chocolate, prepared foods, biscuits, fruit jelly, juices, water, energy drinks, perfumes, cosmetics, tyre, bag, scratch card, SIM card, fabrics, clothes, footwear, sanitary ware, ceramic items, imitation jewellery, motor vehicle and motor cycle parts, microwave woven, electric iron, split system air conditioning machine, floor tiles, bicycle, toys, wrist watch, cable and some other commercial items.
On the other hand, tariff value has been set for sugar, petroleum oils, iron or non-alloy steel semi-finished products, bars, rods and related products.
Following the improvement in customs duty collection, the revenue board has recently asked its customs houses and land customs stations to intensify their monitoring for proper implementation of the measure with hopes of receiving a significant amount of revenue from the sector by the end of the fiscal year.
All of the customs houses will have to conduct valuation following the set import value, it said.
Import activities are done through six customs houses in Chittagong, Mongla, Benapole, Dhaka, Kamalapur Inland Container Depot and Pangaon and through some major land customs stations including Banglabandha and Tamabil.
Another budgetary measure taken to check abuse of the industrial raw materials also helped the NBR to mobilise additional Tk 165 crore in the July-August period compared to that of the same period of last year.
Source: New Age
