CCH tax collection falls 24.8pc short of FY '19 target

CHATTOGRAM, July 05: The Chattogram Customs House (CCH) failed to achieve the tax collection target in the last fiscal year (FY 2018-19) as it bagged Tk 432.11 billion, which is 24.8 per cent short of the period's target of Tk 574.62 billion, sources said.
Sources attributed the failure to the last national election, forgery with documents, fake declaration, corruption of the customs officials etc.
"The overall customs activities were normal in the last fiscal year. We've collected taxes of Tk 432.11 billion till 29th June of the FY 2018-19," CCH Commissioner Mohammed Fakhrul Alam said.
"The import of vehicles decreased in the last fiscal, which is one of the reasons for the revenue shortfall," he added. "There is also a shortage of manpower in CCH. We requested the authorities concerned to appoint the approved manpower for CCH and it would help achieve the target."
However, officials at the CCH expected that the collection would be increased in the current fiscal year.
Meanwhile, according to sources, the CCH failed to achieve the revenue collection targets in the last few fiscal years mainly due to putting wrong HS Codes and submitting fake declarations.
They alleged that several syndicates are active in importing goods through fake declaration in Chattgoram and Dhaka. Some of the importers, C & F agents, shipping agents as well as corrupt and dishonest custom officials are involved with the syndicates.
The syndicates are used to import goods by fake declarations, fake HS codes and tempering the documents, they added.
The syndicates are importing parts of vehicles, machineries and other highly taxable items by declaring these as food grains. Besides, contraband items are also being imported in the same manner, reliable sources said.

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