The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has registered 39 percent growth in the collection of revenue in the last five years. In the just-concluded financial year (2018-19) the exchequer has collected a total of Tk 2,23,892 crore. The collection in the fiscal year 2014-15, five years back, was at Tk 1,36,723 crore. As per this estimation, the board has managed this rise in its tax receipts over the past five years.
Tax officials said the revenue board in the recent past few years brought huge reforms into its infrastructural and human resource management, letting them avail of this growth. “The tax receipts will increase abundantly in the forthcoming years as almost all tax regimes have been brought under automation,” they said.
The newly enacted VAT and Supplementary Duty Act-2012 will exponentially help the exchequer collect huge revenue, intercepting the tax dodging, they believe. Among these five years of books, the board registered 10.7 percent year-on-year collection growth in the fiscal 2018-19, 17.9 percent in 2017-18, and 11.7 percent in fiscal 2016-17.
Besides, the revenue authority marked 13.2 percent year-on-year collection growth in fiscal 2015-16, and 12.3 percent in the previous fiscal. The exchequer in the fiscal 2018-19 could collect a total of Tk 2,23892 crore, up 10.7 percent in comparison with the previous fiscal. According to data, the exchequer collected a total of Tk 2,02,313 crore in the FY18, Tk 1,71,656 crore in the FY17, and Tk 1,55,518 crore in the FY16. Besides, it collected Tk 1,36,724 crore in fiscal 2014-15.
The NBR has also planned increasing its revenue collection in the forthcoming years and also adopted several plans in line with the move.
NBR Chairman recently at a programme said that they were trying with all-out efforts to increase the government’s earnings from the internal sources. “We finally have been able to enact the new VAT law and the businesses do not have any opposition to this enforcement,” he said adding that the automation, the key feature of this law, will significantly increase the revenue collection.
Apart from this, the revenue authority is also focusing on increasing the income tax net to uplift the revenue earnings from the direct taxes. Currently, there are about 4 million people having Tax Identification Number (TIN), but around 2 million of them regularly submit their tax returns. The government has planned to increase the actual income taxpayer to 1 crore mark in the next few years. The exchequer, in line with the move, has started finding out the tax eligible people remaining out of the net.
