Kathmandu, July 18

The government was able to exceed its revenue collection target of Rs 565.9 billion in the last fiscal by Rs 45.87 billion due to exponential growth in imports and also because of the capital gains tax filed by private telecommunication service provider, Ncell. The government collected a total of Rs 611.76 billion in fiscal 2016-17 as income tax and customs tariff surpassed the targets substantially.

There was a 26.93 per cent growth in revenue collection in the last fiscal as compared to the previous fiscal.

Apart from Value Added Tax (VAT), collection under all major headings exceeded the target. The government missed the VAT collection target. Collection under VAT stood at Rs 161.13 billion against the target of Rs 164.72 billion, according to the Ministry of Finance. VAT is a major tax earner, which contributed 26.33 per cent in the total revenue, followed by income tax at 24.74 per cent, customs tariff at 18.34 per cent and excise at 12.18 per cent of the total revenue.

The government collected Rs 151.36 billion through income tax against the target of Rs 127.52 billion and Rs 112.22 billion against the target of Rs 104.74 billion from customs tariff. Revenue collection under these two major headings exceeded the set targets as Ncell filed Rs 13.6 billion as capital gains tax in the fiscal and there was an increase in customs revenue due to substantial rise in imports. The country’s import surged by around 31 per cent in the last fiscal as compared to the previous fiscal, according to the Department of Customs.

The government was able to collect Rs 84.53 billion against the target of Rs 80.94 billion through excise. Similarly, along with the rise in land and housing transactions, registration tax collection also increased to Rs 18.21 billion against the target of Rs 14.04 billion. Collection under vehicle tax stood at Rs 8.81 billion against the target of Rs 7.54 billion.

Collection under health and education service tax, however, missed the target of Rs 0.97 billion and Rs 0.76 billion, respectively. Revenue collection under health stood at Rs 0.87 billion and for education service tax it was Rs 0.74 billion, respectively. Likewise, the government collected Rs 16.03 billion against the target of Rs 9.36 billion under others tax heading and Rs 57.86 billion against the target of Rs 55.3 billion from non-tax heading.