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Revenue collection by the National Board of Revenue fell Tk 47,563 crore short of the target set for the July-February period of the current fiscal year 2020-2021, according to NBR data.
Tax officials managed to collect Tk 1,53,104 crore against the revised collection target of Tk 2,00,667 crore set for the eight months of the fiscal, it showed.
The initial collection target was Tk 1,96,147 crore for the July-February period.
Earlier, the government downsized the overall collection target to Tk 3.01 lakh crore from the original target of Tk 3.30 lakh crore for the fiscal year.
According to the NBR data, revenue collection grew by 5.17 per cent in the first eight months of the fiscal year.
Customs duty, income tax and value-added tax collection grew by 7.86 per cent, 5.05 per cent and 3.27 per cent respectively in the period, showed the data released on Monday.
VAT collection was the highest, Tk 59,987 crore, in the period followed by income tax collection Tk 46,880 crore and customs duty Tk 46,238 crore.
Officials said that the NBR would have to collect Tk 1,47,896 crore in four months (March-June) of the current fiscal year to achieve the revised target.
They said that the achieving of the revised collection target seemed impossible as the fresh wave of the COVID-19 outbreak might create a huge negative impact on the revenue collection.
The government has already declared a seven-day shutdown from Monday to rein in the alarming spread of the virus infection.
The second-phase shutdown that restricts public movement and economic activities may put an adverse impact on the revenue collection, they said.
Revenue collection from hotel, restaurants, retail shops and other services sectors may decline, they added.
Earlier on March 23, 2020, the government for the first time had announced a 10-day general holiday from March 26, 2020, restricting public movement and operations of businesses across the country to check the COVID-19 outbreak. The holiday had been extended for the sixth time till May 30, 2020.
NBR officials said that although the production in factories was kept out of the purview of the fresh shutdown, slowdown in sales and export may also leave an adverse impact on the revenue collection from the sector.
They said that the fresh wave of coronavirus outbreak came at a time when the tax authorities managed to gain a momentum in revenue collection and all the three wings — VAT, customs and income tax — were in positive growth trajectory.
Tax collection grew by 10.18 per cent in February in FY21 compared with that in the same month of FY20.
