LTU tax collection target may face setback in Q4
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Doulot Akter Mala
Revenue collections from top taxpayers might face a setback in the last quarter of the current fiscal as big corporate houses faced a blow after the recent stock market scam, officials said Wednesday. Banks are the major corporate taxpayers as they pay tax at the highest rate of 42.5 per cent on their annual income. Officials of the large taxpayers unit (LTU) said its tax collection target largely depends on the financial conditions of the banks. If the banks earn more gross profits, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) gets more income tax from them. The ministry of finance recently raised the revenue collection target by Tk 30.0 billion. Of this amount, the income tax department will have to collect Tk 11 billion as additional tax from the taxpayers. The collection target of the LTU was also increased to Tk 74 billion from the earlier Tk 72.50 billion. "The unit has shared its concern over achieving the enhanced revenue collection target with the NBR. It will be a big challenge to achieve the higher target from a limited number of taxpayers," said a senior tax official. A total of 281 corporate and nearly 1000 individuals file their annual income tax returns under the LTU. The official said the unit collected more revenues than the targets in the previous years by achieving a higher growth performance but it might be difficult for the unit this fiscal to achieve the enhanced revised target. In the first three quarters of the current fiscal, the LTU collected Tk 42.60 billion as income tax against its original target of Tk 41.90 billion. The official said the unit will have to collect Tk 31 billion taxes in the last quarter from individual and corporate taxpayers to fulfill the revised target. Following the recent stock market scam, a sizeable amount of funds went out of the banking system, resulting in a fund crunch for the scheduled banks. The commercial banks contribute to about 62 per cent of revenues collected by the LTU.
Revenue collections from top taxpayers might face a setback in the last quarter of the current fiscal as big corporate houses faced a blow after the recent stock market scam, officials said Wednesday. Banks are the major corporate taxpayers as they pay tax at the highest rate of 42.5 per cent on their annual income. Officials of the large taxpayers unit (LTU) said its tax collection target largely depends on the financial conditions of the banks. If the banks earn more gross profits, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) gets more income tax from them. The ministry of finance recently raised the revenue collection target by Tk 30.0 billion. Of this amount, the income tax department will have to collect Tk 11 billion as additional tax from the taxpayers. The collection target of the LTU was also increased to Tk 74 billion from the earlier Tk 72.50 billion. "The unit has shared its concern over achieving the enhanced revenue collection target with the NBR. It will be a big challenge to achieve the higher target from a limited number of taxpayers," said a senior tax official. A total of 281 corporate and nearly 1000 individuals file their annual income tax returns under the LTU. The official said the unit collected more revenues than the targets in the previous years by achieving a higher growth performance but it might be difficult for the unit this fiscal to achieve the enhanced revised target. In the first three quarters of the current fiscal, the LTU collected Tk 42.60 billion as income tax against its original target of Tk 41.90 billion. The official said the unit will have to collect Tk 31 billion taxes in the last quarter from individual and corporate taxpayers to fulfill the revised target. Following the recent stock market scam, a sizeable amount of funds went out of the banking system, resulting in a fund crunch for the scheduled banks. The commercial banks contribute to about 62 per cent of revenues collected by the LTU.