Revenue collection by the National Board of Revenue fell short of target by Tk 26,876 crore in the first five months of the current fiscal year 2019-2020 mainly due to the poor performance of NBR’s VAT and customs wings and the dismal economic performance of the country during the period.
According to the provisional data of the NBR, tax officials managed to collect only Tk 83,692 crore in the July-November period of FY20 against a collection target of Tk 1,10,568 crore for the period.
Shortfall in VAT and customs duty collection surpassed Tk 10,000 crore each in the period, the officials said.
They said that the revenue collection grew merely by 5.06 per cent in the five months compared to the same period of FY19 when collection stood at Tk 73,018 crore.
According to the data, the value added tax wing collected Tk 32,771 crore in July-November this year against Tk 31,636 crore in the same period last year. Income tax and customs duty collection stood at Tk 24,836 crore and Tk 26,086 crore respectively in the period, the data showed.
In the July-November period of the last fiscal year, income tax and customs duty collection was Tk 21,920 crore and 26,104 crore respectively.
VAT collection grew only by 3.56 per cent despite expectations that the figure would see a big jump following implementation of the new VAT law.
On the other hand, income tax collection grew 13.30 per cent in the period. Customs duty collection registered negative in the period.
The NBR officials said that the country’s dismal economic performance, led by the decline in export earnings and import payments, contributed to the poor revenue earnings of the NBR during the period.