KATHMANDU, Jan 15: Revenue collection improved significantly in the last two weeks of the sixth month of Fiscal Year 2017/18 that ended on Sunday, government officials say.

The encouraging collection has made government officials confident of meeting the revenue target set for the current fiscal year.

The statistics of revenue collection till Saturday, including check clearance made till Sunday morning, shows that the government mobilized around Rs 316 billion till the last day of the first half of FY2017/18. 

The figure is Rs 16 billion short of the revenue target that the government has set for the first half of the current fiscal year.

“Encouraging collection in the last few weeks indicates that the target is gettable. Now, we are confident of achieving the target,” Revenue Secretary Shishir Dhungana said. “The government will come up with final details of revenue collection of the first half of the current fiscal year by Monday.”

The government had mobilized only Rs 270 by January 1. But the collection swelled to Rs 316 billion in less than two weeks. The only additional collection in the treasury in this period is Rs 5 billion from the registration fee of land ownership transfer. Other amount is from regular sources.

The government has set a target of collecting Rs 334 billion in the first half of FY2017/18. Collection on the last day will be higher that other day as many taxpayers settle their tax liability on the deadline day. This means that the government is close to achieving the revenue target for the first half of the fiscal year despite missing targets in the past five months. 

The shortfall of Rs 16 billion is easily gettable on the last day, government officials say.  

The government, which had disbursed Rs 150 billion to local units under two tranches, was under pressure due to lack of spendable money in the government treasury.

Mid-January is the last date to clear all the taxes of previous fiscal year as well as collect 40 percent of the projected income tax for the current fiscal year.  

Unlike in the past years, the government has already collected over Rs 110 billion from the internal borrowing out of the target to borrow Rs 145 billion in FY2017/18.

Revenue collection as per the target will also give a cushion to the government has to allocate more money for the newly-elected provincial parliaments and governments. The government has to allocate total Rs 7.14 billion immediately for the provinces to build infrastructures and additional amounts for regular spending. 

The government has targeted to collect Rs 730 billion in FY 2017/18. Capital spending over the first six months remains at Rs 47 billion or 14 percent of the target capital budget of Rs 335 billion. The government’s failure to spend in time, particularly in development works like infrastructure projects, has also affected revenue collection, civil contractors said last week organizing a press meet.

 
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