Ministry targets 18pc revenue growth

KATHMANDU, JULY 23: 

Finance Ministry, today, informally decided to set a revenue target with a growth rate of 18 per cent for the first quarter of current fiscal year.

“The revenue target for last fiscal year was Rs 242 billion,” said joint secretary at the Finance Ministry Rana Bahadur Shrestha. 

“Overall revenue collection target is predicted to touch Rs 285 billion for current fiscal,” he said, adding the increase in target means the government should collect at least Rs 71 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.

Revenue Division under the ministry will circulate information of revenue target to other departments soon. Setting the target is very important for the tax administration to ensure transparency and effectiveness in work, said director general at Inland Revenue Department Tanka Mani Sharma.

“The new target will help the revenue administration be more focused in its duties, whether the target is formal or informal,” he said, adding that the formal revenue 

target will be set after the government introduces a full budget.

However, it is difficult to achieve the target since the tax structure and tax ceiling hasn’t been revised, he said.

DRI fails to impound vehicle

An investigation team from the Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) on Sunday failed to take a vehicle ferrying under-invoiced goods under its control though it had deployed a team based on a tip-off. “The department had received reliable information that the vehicle was ferrying under-invoiced goods from the Tribhuwan International Airport Customs Office,” said deputy director general at the Department of Revenue Investigation Rajendra Sharma Laudari. “But the vehicle — which was apparently ferrying readymade garments — had already fled before the team arrived.”

Source: THT