Earnings by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) grew by 17.2 percent in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, thanks to a strong drive to collect revenues from both the public and private sectors.

The tax administrator will have to collect Tk 30,000 crore in the next three months to meet the target for the entire fiscal year.

An NBR official said they hope to earn more than the required amount in the next three months to reach the goal.

He also said they collected Tk 500 crore more than the target in the first nine months.

According to NBR statistics, revenue earnings in the July-March period were Tk 62,261 crore against a target of Tk 61,857 crore.

The NBR official said they had a collection target of Tk 91,870 crore for the entire year.

But the "resource committee" of the finance ministry at a recent meeting chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith decided to reset the target in the revised budget.

The target for the entire year may be increased by Tk 500 crore-Tk 1,000 crore, said the official, asking not to be named.

The successes of the current year may encourage the NBR to set the next year's target at Tk 1,12,000 crore, 22 percent more than this year's estimated earnings.

In the next three months, revenue worth Tk 3,400 crore will come from Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation alone, he said.

Besides, there is a possibility of earning Tk 742 crore as SIM (subscriber identity module) tax from the mobile operators, the NBR official added.

He also said Alternative Dispute Resolution has been introduced recently to fast-track resolution of tax-related cases out of court, which will spin off revenue of another Tk 100 crore.

He said the NBR has intensified its tax collection drives and is not sparing even the public sector companies.

The official said stern action has been taken against state-owned mobile phone company Teletalk, compelling the operator to commit to pay its dues every month.

The tax administrator also froze the account of the state-run mobile operator as it failed to pay dues in time, said the official.

Besides, the NBR has formed two taskforces to speed up revenue collection. The taskforces have detected tax evasions by a good number of big companies. Revenue worth around Tk 2,000 crore may be realised from them, the official said.

He said, due to the steps they achieved big successes in realising income tax and local-level value added tax.

In the first nine months, growth in income tax was 25 percent and VAT at the local level increased by 20 percent. However, revenue earnings rose by only 10 percent at the import level.

The official said, both the government and the Bangladesh Bank have taken various steps to discourage import of unnecessary goods to ease pressure on the foreign currency reserve. As a result, growth in revenue earnings at the import level is somewhat lower, he added.

The official said the NBR may set an ambitious target in the next fiscal year also. Already the resource committee meeting has made a projection of revenue target for the next year.

The NBR official said the target may be increased by 22 percent over the current fiscal year's earnings and set at Tk 1,12,000 crore.

He said a new VAT law is likely to be introduced in the next fiscal year, and so they are hopeful of meeting the next year's target also.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 30th April 2012