Defying all uncertainties, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has successfully managed to mobilise an amount higher than its revised target of Tk1,50,000 crore for the outgoing fiscal year 2015-16 with a day still to go.
The authorities have already collected around Tk154,784 crore revenue against its revised target of Tk150,000 crore set for FY2015-16. That means, the authorities have surpassed the downsized target of around Tk4,784 crore by July to June of this fiscal year, according to the latest provisional data.
During the period, the customs wing has collected around Tk44,855 crore against the target of Tk42,500 crore, Value Added Tax wing collected over Tk55,684 crore against the target of Tk54,064 crore and income tax wing collected over Tk54,244 crore against the target of Tk53,436 crore, the data shows.
The revenue collection grew by 14.06% from the revenue earning of FY14-15. The customs wing posted highest 17.01% growth while VAT wing 13.61% and income tax wing 12.18%.
Revenue collected by NBR, however, remained far behind from the original target as the government in April reduced NBR’s revenue collection target by 15% from the original target of Tk1,76,370 crore due to slow growth of collection and poor results of different economic indicators.
Although many quarters doubted that the NBR would not be able to mobilise even the revised target, however, revenue officials were always very hopeful about meeting the revised collection target.
They said: “Intensified efforts to realise due from different state-owned enterprises and settlement of cases through Alternative Dispute Resolution helped NBR to achieve the target.”
During the FY’15-16, NBR has established claims over an additional amount of Tk13,000 crore which will come through book adjustment from the Finance Division as arrear revenue from state-owned Petrobangla, they said.
In addition, an increased surveillance on taxpayers and bringing effectiveness to the Large Taxpayers’ Unit (LTU) also helped the authorities to reach the target, they added.
While placing the budget for upcoming fiscal year 2016-17, Finance Minister AMA Muhith expected that the NBR would collect Tk1,60,000 crore revenue exceeding its target through demonstration of great efforts in FY15-16.
NBR Chairman Md Nojibur Rahman said: “The revenue dialogue with stakeholders, appointing eligible person in right position in right time, involving the public representatives in revenue collection process, and satisfactory results in pending revenue collection and resolving the pending cases have led to the success.”
Source: Dhaka Tribune
