The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has achieved big success with 92 percent VAT collection in 2022-23 fiscal year.

The Value Added Tax (VAT) Division of the NBR earned Tk1.25 lakh crore with 17 percent growth in FY23, which was Tk1.8 lakh crore in FY22.

The Finance Division, a wing of the Ministry of Finance, has termed this achievement as 'exceptional' in the annual performance report despite the multi-faceted challenges in the economy.

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According to the information received from the VAT department of the NBR, the revenue has collected Tk17,004 crore more VAT in the just-concluded financial year compared to FY22.

Among these, the achievement of the NBR in the last month of the fiscal year, June, was notable. The amount of VAT collected in June is Tk 15,614 crore with a growth of 17.70 percent.

Cigarettes accounted for the highest revenue from VAT collected in the recently concluded fiscal year. The amount of which is Tk 32,818 crores. Then there is the position of mobile phone operators. From which Tk9438 crores of VAT has been collected.

Member of VAT implementation and IT department of NBR Moinul Khan told UNB that there was a lot of adverse situation in FY23. VAT was not received from several projects due to cost containment policies.

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Traders said that many companies could not open LCs regularly and import raw materials for products and could not carry out normal production.

Besides, some daily essential products including edible oil have to be exempted from VAT. Despite these challenges, “I think the 17 percent growth in VAT is a big achievement.