KATHMANDU, Oct 27: The Inland Revenue Department has succeeded in meeting its target of revenue collection in the first quarter of the current fiscal year -- FY2017/18.
Though the actual revenue collection was lagging behind the target in the first two months of the current fiscal, a surge in revenue in the third month has offered a sigh of relief to the government that is facing an uphill task of meeting the revenue collection target for the current fiscal year.
According to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD)’s data, it has collected a total of Rs 51.63 billion in revenue in the first quarter compared to the quarterly target of Rs 51.34 billion. This is 101 percent success in revenue collection.
Revenue collection target remains unmet
The revenue collection is 24 percent higher than the amount the IRD had collected in the corresponding period of the last Fiscal Year 2016/17. Collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) has been the best in the first quarter with the IRD achieving 103.37 percent progress by collecting Rs 18.32 billion in VAT. The target was Rs 17.72 billion. Likewise, the department raised Rs 12.82 billion in excise duty while the target was Rs 12.45 billion.
The IRD, however, failed short in collecting income tax during the review period. It achieved only 97.39 percent progress in collecting income tax in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. According to the IRD, it collected only Rs 20 billion in income tax, whereas the target was Rs 20.54 billion.
The performance of the IRD to collect education service tax and health service tax also remained weak. While Rs 277.96 million was collected toward education service tax, the department raised Rs 202.28 million in health service tax, down from the target of Rs 381.12 million and Rs 237.97 million respectively. Kishor Jung Karki, the director general of the IRD, said that the tax administration has been able to meet the revenue target in the third quarter despite long holidays in the Nepali month of Ashoj (the last month of the first quarter, mid September to mid October).
“Though there was some problem in meeting the revenue target in the first two months of the current fiscal year, we have been able to achieve the target in the month of Ashoj due to the efforts of the tax administration,” a statement of the IRD quoted Karki as saying in a monthly review program of the department.
He also urged the staff of the IRD to actively work toward exceeding the revenue target by 20 percent. The IRD has been provided an annual target of Rs 300 billion out of Rs 730.05 billion of total target set in the budget speech for the current fiscal year. He also instructed the tax officials to intensify market monitoring and make it more effective.
