Government's tax-revenue collection saw a 27.05 per cent growth in the first month of this fiscal largely for a surge in imports and steady growth in exports.
Officials said domestic value-added tax (VAT) and customs duties contributed largely to the July tax-revenue growth surpassing the set target.
Customs department pulled a 50.62 per cent growth in revenue collection in the first month of the current Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-18 while VAT collection grew by 18.83 per cent, according to official statistics.
Officials attributed such "impressive" revenue growth at the outset of the fiscal year to significant increases in domestic demand and import of products.
Collection of excise duty also posted a remarkable growth of 47.21 per cent.
"It is a surprising growth as the revenue collection usually remains poor in the first quarter of every fiscal year," said a senior tax official.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) received a total of Tk 121.89 billion in tax-revenue on account of income tax, customs duty and VAT in July. It is Tk 25.95 billion higher over the same month of last year.
The NBR army of revenue collectors fielded across the country collected Tk 95.94 billion worth of tax-revenue in the first month of the FY 2016-17.
Income-tax collection, by contrast, posted a comparatively slower growth in the month of July, 10.87 per cent. And, turnover tax saw a negative growth, declining by 62.50 per cent.
Income-tax officials are upbeat about a continued rise in tax collection in the second quarter as many of the individual taxpayers will submit their tax returns by November 30, 2017, the deadline for return submission by individual taxpayers.
Also, a section of corporate taxpayers will submit their tax returns by their deadline, December 30, 2017, they said.
The customs wing of the NBR collected Tk 21.96 billion in revenue in July against Tk 14.77 billion in the same month of last FY.
Its VAT wing collected Tk 43.55 billion in July against Tk 36.65 billion and income-tax department collected Tk 30.57 billion against Tk 27.57 billion last year.
Export growth and import-payment surged by 26.54 per cent and 47 per cent respectively in the first month of the fiscal, according to Bangladesh Bank (BB) and Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.
However, experts and some senior tax officials are in doubt about achievement of an ambitious revenue-collection target fixed at Tk 2.48 trillion for the FY 2017-18 for financing an upraised national budget, worth over Tk 4.0 trillion.
The NBR has to achieve 34 per cent growth, on average, over last year's revenue collection worth Tk 1.85 trillion.
Among the three wings, VAT target has been fixed highest at Tk 910 billion followed by income tax at Tk 871.90 billion and customs duty Tk 700 billion.
The government set the VAT-collection target focusing on implementation of the new VAT and Supplementary Duty Act 2012 from July 1, 2017.
Deferment of the new VAT law by two years may leave negative impact on achieving the VAT target, officials said.
However, the government cuts the original tax-revenue target at the fag-end of almost every financial year. Last year, the original tax-revenue collection was set at Tk 2.03 trillion that was cut to Tk 1.85 trillion.
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