Revenue board unlikely to achieve revised tax target

The National Board Revenue (NBR) is likely to miss the tax collection target as it has achieved only two-third of the revised target in the first 10 months of the outgoing financial year 2020-21.

To achieve the target, the revenue board has to collect Tk 104,000 crore or 34.55 percent of the target in the remaining two months, which is practically impossible, said revenue board officials.

Earlier, the NBR has revised down the target to Tk 301,000 crore from Tk 330,000 crore. But it was able to collect Tk 197,000 crore or 65.45 percent till April, with just two months in hands.

“There may be Tk 50,000 crore shortage from the revised target,” an NBR official told the Business Insider Bangladesh.

Experts think, the NBR will be able to collect about 85 percent and the remaining 15 percent will remain kept in the field.

The taxmen are also not confident to meet the huge revenue gap within the short time frame.

Although the tax revenue collection growth picked up in July-April period, field-level tax officials said achieving the target would not be possible this year too.

The NBR collected 13 percent higher revenue in the first 10 months in the FY21 but in the FY20, tax revenue collection posted a negative 2.26 per cent growth for the first time since independence.

All three wings of the NBR achieved higher growth in the first 10 months of the FY21. Customs wing achieved the highest growth of 20.36 percent, while VAT wing 11.04 percent, and income tax wing posted 8.26 percent growth.

For the first time, the government might keep the original tax revenue collection target unchanged at Tk 330,000 crore for the FY22.