Customs misses revenue collection target by Tk 45.1m in Sept

FE Team | Published: October 20, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Doulot Akter Mala
The customs department of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) was able to collect revenue worth Tk 40.80 billion in September last against its target of Tk 41.25 billion, official sources said.
The department collected Tk 12.67 billion and Tk 12.99 billion in August and July respectively against the target of Tk 14.57 billion and Tk 13.89 billion.
The shortfall was Tk 45.1 million in September, Tk 1.90 billion in August and Tk 89.0 million in July respectively.
"The department has been able to minimise shortfall gradually due to initiating proper work plan and revenue oriented budget for the current fiscal," said customs member Rahsidul Ahsan Chowdhury.
The customs department has been trying with all its efforts to maintain an upward trend in revenue collection although the government has waived import duty from most of the essential commodities, he said.
The government has set a revenue target of Tk 178.12 billion for customs department in fiscal 2007-08.
The board, for the first time, has drawn up a work plan for achieving the fiscal targets that include speedy disposal of law suits to realise stuck-up revenues and enhancing the performance of customs houses.
The department in pursuance of the plan directed different customs houses, excise and VAT commissionarates to closely monitor the activities of the pre-shipment inspection (PSI) companies that issue Clean Report of Finding (CRF) and price declaration certificates.
The NBR has also instructed customs houses, excise and VAT commissionarates to prepare a list of those products under the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System (HS code) that are susceptible to misdeclaration for proper scrutiny.
The NBR has ordered to expedite the sale of seized goods through auction. The customs department will arrange two auctions a month.
The work plan also stressed the need for improvement of risk management and increasing intelligence activities to thwart duty evasion.
Revenue officials said importers generally take a wait-and-see approach after the announcement of budget for the new fiscal.
The businessmen draw business plan after observing the impact of changes made in the budget, which is the main reason for the shortfall in collection of customs duty in the first quarter of the fiscal, they added.