NN Online:
With the 2024–25 fiscal year drawing to a close, National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Md. Abdur Rahman Khan has urged tax officials to step up their revenue collection efforts to meet critical government financial requirements amid a tough economic landscape.
The call came during a revenue progress review meeting held Thursday at NBR headquarters in the capital’s Revenue Building. The meeting reviewed Customs and VAT Division performance through May and explored strategies to maximize collections in the final stretch of the fiscal year.
Joined by commissioners, directors general, and field-level officials both in person and virtually via Zoom, the NBR chief issued firm instructions to accelerate target-based collections and intensify efforts to recover arrears.
“I urge all revenue officials to focus on meeting their targets and to work in a coordinated manner to collect outstanding dues. Every extra taka collected reduces our dependence on borrowing and strengthens our economic resilience,” Khan stated.
He also called for stronger intelligence operations to combat tax evasion, underreporting, and non-compliance.
“Data-driven intelligence must support a modern revenue system. Enhanced surveillance and analytical tools are vital to plugging revenue leaks and improving collection,” he added.
The meeting revealed that as of May, NBR has collected Tk 3,27,782.26 crore against a target of Tk 3,94,460.45 crore, achieving 83.10 percent of its goal—a modest 6 percent growth compared to the same period last year.
While acknowledging the gains made, the NBR chairman expressed concern over the shortfall and called on field-level officers to ramp up their efforts through the end of June.
He directed commissioners to hold regular strategy sessions with their teams, identify operational bottlenecks, and act swiftly to resolve them.
In response, revenue officials outlined several ongoing initiatives to boost year-end collections, including tighter field coordination, special enforcement drives against non-compliant entities, faster assessment processes, and public awareness campaigns about the importance of tax compliance.
Field offices have been specifically tasked with increasing inspections of commercial establishments to ensure timely and accurate submission of VAT returns and customs declarations.
The revised revenue target for FY25 has been set at Tk 4.63 lakh crore—lowered from the original Tk 4.80 lakh crore. Despite the adjustment, forecasts suggest that the NBR may still fall short, primarily due to sluggish economic activity and structural challenges within the revenue administration.
