The National Board of Revenue collected 1.14 per cent higher tax of Tk 66,555 crore in the July-October period thanks to increased receipts from income tax and import tariff.

The overall collection was, however, Tk 20,445 crore short of the target in the four months to October. The tax authority had targeted to log in Tk 87,000 crore in revenue in the period, according to data shared by the NBR yesterday.

"Despite sluggishness in the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, we have been able to collect higher revenue," said NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem at a press briefing at the NBR headquarters.

The tax collector organised the event to share the preparations it took to assist taxpayers to furnish income tax returns for the current year at the field offices of tax as it is not holding the tax fair this year to reduce the risk of the spread of the viral disease.

Muneem said the NBR will not extend the income tax return submission deadline, which is November 30. However, taxpayers can file returns in the next four months by securing time extension from the tax offices after the expiry of the deadline.

The NBR said each tax zone made arrangements in a way that look like tax fairs to facilitate taxpayers to file returns.

Provisional data prepared by the NBR showed that taxmen collected Tk 20,740 crore in the July-October period, up 5 per cent from a year ago.

Import tariff collection increased by 5.5 per cent year-on-year to Tk 21,790 crore. Collection of the biggest source of revenue, value-added tax (VAT), declined 5 per cent to Tk 24,025 crore.

Muneem said there is a huge potential of collection of VAT because of a wider scope provided in the VAT law.

However, the NBR can't take the full advantage as the main transactions are not taking place through debit and credit cards.

He said the pilot phase of installing electronic fiscal devices at 100 shops in Dhaka and Chattogram became successful.

The revenue authority installed EFDs at 824 shops in two cities and a total of 1,000 EFDs will be set up at shops and be operational by December.

At the briefing, Muneem also talked about the revenue collection from tech giants such as Facebook and the projects taken by the NBR to automate revenue system.

He, replying to question on High Court's recent directive to the NBR on the collection of revenue, said collections from social media such as Facebook and YouTube are not zero.

"We get revenue when the money is transferred through the banking channel. If the money is transferred through other channels, we can't track the payments," he said.

Meetings took place among the ministries of commerce, ICT, telecommunication and information in recent time to address the issue of revenue collection from the social media giants and e-commerce firms.

The NBR framed rules so that the tech companies appoint agents or set up a local office. It also requested the telecommunication ministry to impose rules on the digital companies to open local offices or appoint agents so that the NBR can track their incomes and expenditure.

On the failure of the automation schemes such as online submission of tax return, Muneem said the higher focus was given on procuring hardware and software without considering whether there are enough human resources to run the systems after the transfer of the ownership.

"As a result, our dependence on foreign companies has increased for automation," he said.

"We are lagging in training our human resources and recruitment. We are trying to pay attention to this area," he said.

The NBR is working to develop its IT set-up and to train its manpower so that the administration can take over the ownership of automation projects after completion.