NBR urges for boosting revenue collection in final month of FY25

He made the call on Thursday while addressing a revenue collection progress review meeting held at the NBR’s headquarters at the city’s Revenue Building.

The meeting was convened to assess the performance of the Customs and VAT Divisions up to May and to strategise ways to improve revenue intake during the concluding period of the fiscal year.

During the meeting, attended by members of the Customs and VAT Divisions, commissioners and directors general stationed in Dhaka, as well as officials posted outside the capital who joined virtually through Zoom, the NBR Chairman issued clear directives to enhance collections through target-based efforts and special initiatives to recover arrear revenues.

“I urge all revenue officials to prioritise achieving their respective targets and to take coordinated action to collect outstanding dues. Every additional taka collected reduces our reliance on debt and contributes to economic stability,” said the chief of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

He further emphasised the need to activate and strengthen intelligence activities to identify and address tax evasion, underreporting, and non-compliance.

“Modern revenue administration must be supported by data-driven intelligence. Strengthening surveillance and analysis mechanisms is crucial to minimizing leakages and boosting collection,” he added.

The meeting revealed that against a revenue collection target of Tk 3,94,460.45 crore for the July–May period of the ongoing fiscal year, the NBR has managed to collect Tk 3,27,782.26 crore so far. This reflects an achievement rate of 83.10 percent, with a modest year-on-year growth rate of 6 percent during the same period.

While appreciating the progress made, the NBR chairman expressed concern over the shortfall and urged field-level officials to intensify efforts in the final weeks of June.

He asked commissioners to hold regular consultations with their teams, assess bottlenecks in their jurisdictions, and take action to resolve issues that are hindering collections.

Revenue officials, in turn, briefed the chairman about the measures already undertaken to improve collections in the remaining days of the fiscal year. These include greater on-ground coordination, targeted drives against non-compliant businesses, fast-tracking assessments, and raising public awareness about the importance of tax compliance.

According to officials, field offices have been instructed to increase visits to commercial establishments and ensure that VAT returns and customs declarations are accurate and submitted on time.

The revised revenue collection target for the NBR during FY 2024-25 stands at Tk 4.63 lakh crore, brought down from the original budgetary target of Tk 4.80 lakh crore.

Despite the downward revision, projections indicate that the NBR is likely to fall short of this target as well, largely due to slower-than-expected economic activities and structural inefficiencies within the revenue administration, reports UNB.