Strong start to FY24: July sees 15% growth in NBR revenue
NBR officials said that due to taking some initiatives in the budget and strengthening monitoring at the field level, there has been a good growth in VAT collection
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has started fiscal 2023-24 with satisfactory collections, posting an over 15% rise in revenue year-on-year in July, despite the fact that the economy is going through a slowdown.
Sources have told The Business Standard that the revenue board earned Tk20,561 crore in revenue in the first month of the current fiscal year, and yet the figure fell short of the target by about Tk2,000 crore.
NBR has been able to achieve relatively good growth mainly on the basis of Value Added Tax (VAT) at the local stage, which grew by around 22% last month. In addition, due to the drought in imports last year, although the import tax is on the decline, in the first month of the financial year, there has been about 14% growth from this sector. Relatively less has been collected from the income tax sector.
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NBR officials said that due to taking some initiatives in the budget and strengthening monitoring at the field level, there has been a good growth in VAT collection.
An NBR official told Business Standard on condition of anonymity, "As part of the fiscal measures, several exemptions have been canceled this time. Which was in July last year. As a result, the growth in collection has been higher than that period."
By way of example, he said, some consumer items had VAT at a reduced rate this time last year, which is not there now. As a result, more VAT has been collected from those sectors.
He said that the government is introducing electronic fiscal devices (EFDs) in various business establishments of Dhaka-Chattogram. As a result, VAT collection from the trading stage may increase in the future.
Muhammad Abdul Mazid, former NBR chairman, sees this growth in revenue collection as positive despite the current economic situation. "The good growth in revenue collection amid economic slowdown indicates that the tax burden on people has increased," he told TBS.
"A lot of the tax burden falls on the common consumer. The additional tax (VAT) burden on them amid the current high inflation is putting them in a tougher position," he added.
According to NBR data, revenue growth was slightly over 10% in FY23, and the average growth over the past five years was close to 11%. Of these, the year of Covid resulted in negative growth in FY21.
NBR's revenue collection target for the current financial year is Tk4.3 lakh crore.
