The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has asked its field offices to expedite the Value Added Tax (VAT) collection as the collection from the pocket is only 56.15 per cent in the first eight months of the current fiscal.

In this connection, the revenue collecting authority asked for attaining the target of the revenue collection keeping the present condition in mind and to put emphasis on establishing intensive communication with the big companies.

The NBR data shows that total revenue collection from VAT wing fixed in the budget for 2021-22 fiscal was Tk 127747.58 crore whereas the collection till February 2022 is Tk 71,736.88 crore, which is only 56.15 per cent.

The target for VAT collection from import level was Tk 45,554.76 crore. But till February of this year the NBR has been able to collect Tk 28,403.60 crore where in the month of February the collection was 4061.67 crore.

The collection till February 2021 was Tk 22,709.32 crore while the collection in the month of February 2021 was Tk 3050.02 crore.

It means the growth in month to month basis is 33.17 per cent while it is 25.07 per cent considering the collection of the first eight months of the two fiscals.

On the other hand, target for VAT collection from local level was Tk 82192.82 crore. But till February of this year the NBR has been able to collect Tk 43333.28 crore where in the month of February the collection was Tk 5615.67 crore.

The collection till February 2021 was Tk 38,734.97 crore while the collection in the month of February 2021 was Tk 5312.55 crore.

It shows that the growth in month to month basis is 5.71 per cent only while growth is 11.87 per cent considering the collection of the first eight months of the two fiscals.

A senior official of the NBR said that in the present situation of the world or the country during the pandemic is not very conducive for revenue collection with sizeable growth.

"We are all aware about the present situation, this might improves as the world and the country as well are coming out from the shadow of the pandemic situation gradually. Whatever it is, we have to step forward with necessary actions to attain the target,' he said.

He mentioned that good communications with large companies that usually give significant amount of VAT would be a better tool for enhanced revenue collections.

He said that officials would have to depend on the items like cigarettes, mobile, bank, Bkash, internet and medicine, which pay higher revenue to the national exchequer.

Besides, the NBR official said that special attention needs to be given on collecting advance VAT and outstanding revenues from various business entities.

The revenue target for the NBR for fiscal 2021-22 has been set at Tk 330,078 crore.

Of the total target the VAT wing will contribute the lion share with Tk 127,745 crore. The target for Income Tax and Tax on Profit has been set Tk 104, 952 crore.

The revenue collection from import duty will be Tk 37, 807.18 crore, Tk 55,225.26 crore from from Supplementary Duty, Tk 55.45 crore from export duty, Tk 3685.69 crore from Excise Duty, Tk 1529.90 crore from travel tac while Tk 1050 crore from other taxes and duties.