Tax collection more than doubles in April

Revenue collection surged 116 per cent year-on-year to Tk 19,326 crore in April, the highest monthly growth in the current fiscal year, which has seen lower tax receipts because of the economic slowdown.

Receipts rose 13 per cent year-on-year to Tk 197,583 crore in the July-April period, buoyed by increased imports and higher collection from domestic sources ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest sales season in the country, provisional data from the National Board of Revenue (NBR) showed.

Despite the stellar performance in April, the tax administration is unlikely to achieve its revised collection target of Tk 301,000 crore in 2020-21: the NBR will have to generate Tk 103,416 crore in the final two months of the fiscal year ending in June.

Md Anwar Hossain, director-general for research and statistics of the NBR, however, hoped that the collection would be closer to the revised target at the end of the year.

"We usually receive a higher amount of tax in the last two months of a fiscal year," he said. In its independent review of the economy yesterday, the Centre for Policy Dialogue said the attainment of the target was highly unlikely.

The NBR raised Tk 61,132 crore from import tariff from July to April, up 20 per cent year-on-year.

Imports increased 6 per cent to $46.23 billion in July-March period from a year ago, according to the Bangladesh Bank.

The collection from the value-added tax, the biggest source of revenue for the NBR, grew 11 per cent to Tk 76,781 crore in the 10-month period.

Tax officials logged an 8 per cent higher growth in income tax to take the collection to Tk 59,670 crore.