The immediate past BNP government has fixed the target of revenue collection at Tk41,055 crore for fiscal 2006-07 as against Tk35,652 crore in the last fiscal (2005-06).

According to officials, the NBR collected Tk15,823 crore in revenue against the first six months' target of Tk20,527 crore, marking a shortfall of Tk4,704 crore.

NBR sources said in the last fiscal year, they reached the target with the help of government's option of whitening black money.

Taking the last chance of government amnesty for whitening black money, some 7,246 individuals legalised Tk4,603 crore at 7.5 percent tax rate, which helped the government deposit Tk342.22 crore in the national exchequer in FY 2005-06.

On the other hand, the NBR failed to achieve its revenue collection target in the first six months (July-December) of the current fiscal year.

Talking to the news agency yesterday, NBR Member (Income Tax Policy) Ali Ahmed termed the revenue target highly ambitious.

"But, we think, if we get the High Court verdict in our favour in the pending cases, we might get closer to the target," he said.

In this regard, he emphasised the introduction of National Identification Number (NIN) to collect VAT (value added tax) and income tax more smoothly and efficiently.

To avoid the revenue shortfall, newly appointed NBR Chairman Sheikh AK Motahar Hossain held a meeting with the Board's senior officials on January 11, seeking to find out a fresh collection strategy.

This was his first meeting after joining the NBR as its chairman on January 8. Motahar directed the officials concerned of the Board to gear up their collection drive in order to meet the current revenue shortfall.

Meeting sources said the NBR officials blamed the recent political unrest and highly ambitious target for the revenue shortfall in the first six months of the current fiscal year. But they hoped they would be able to get closer to the target at the end of the fiscal year as the economic activities in the coming months are expected to get smoother due to the declaration of state of emergency.

The NBR collected Tk7,302 crore in import duty in the first six months of the current fiscal year, posting a 1.01 percent growth over Tk7,229.19 crore collected during the same period of the last fiscal year.

The NBR collected Tk5,512 crore VAT during the first six months of FY 2006-07, showing a 13.85 percent growth over Tk4,841 crore collected during the corresponding period in FY 2005-06.

The income tax sector performed well in the first six months of FY 2006-07 with the collection totalling Tk2,905 crore, up 21.05 percent over the same period in the previous fiscal.

The revenue collection from other sectors stood at Tk140 crore in six months of the current fiscal year compared to Tk118 crore during the same period of last fiscal.