Income tax collection rises 9.3% in August

The government’s revenue collection from income tax in August stood at Tk 9,623 crore with a 9.3 per cent growth comparing to the same period of the previous year.  

As per the National Board of Revenue provisional data, revenue officials in August collected Tk 9,623 crore as income tax, up by 9.3 per cent, which was Tk 8,800 crore in August 2020. 

As the August calculation is yet to be completed, NBR officials said they are expecting a shortfall in achieving target like the fiscal year’s first month. 

“Although there is a deficit compared to the target, our revenue collection has increased compared to last year” an NBR official said. 

“However, our income from income tax is increasing, for example, in August, the sector earned Tk 9,623 crore which was Tk 8,800 crore last year,” the official added.

In August 2019, the NBR collected Tk 10,600 crore indicating that the NBR is yet to reach the level where it was two years ago. 

Some NBR officials said that the revenue growth for the month of August indicated that the country’s economy started recovering from the Covid-19 fallouts.

Meanwhile, in the first month of the financial year, there was a huge deficit in comparison with the revenue collection target. Coronavirus had the biggest effect last year, as it had an impact on all sectors.

Field-level tax officials said a significant part of the revenue was lost for the lockdown, causing negative growth in VAT collection by 25 per cent in the month of July.

And the national revenue collection in the first month of the current fiscal also dropped by 6.24 per cent compared to the same month’s last year.