• This is the first time in a decade that the government has missed the target

Kathmandu, July 24

Contrary to the government’s earlier claim that its revenue collection overshot the annual target in the fiscal year 2017-18, Nepal Rastra Bank and the Financial Comptroller General Office have revealed that there was a gap of Rs 5.3 billion between the target and actual collection.

The government had set an annual revenue collection target of Rs 730.05 billion in the previous fiscal, while the actual collection stood at Rs 726.07 billion, according to FCGO. However, Revenue Secretary Shishir Kumar Dhungana claimed that the government’s revenue collection in the previous fiscal hovered around Rs 732 billion, exceeding the target.

Officials at FCGO said they had not included the expenditure arrears under revenue heading. “We have received reports from the districts that show the government’s revenue collection was below the set target in the previous fiscal,” said a high-level official at the FCGO.

Collection at a glance

Tax revenue

Projection

Actual

Income tax

Rs 186.22bn

Rs 179.1bn

VAT

Rs 216.62bn

Rs 206.8bn

Excise

Rs 101.18bn

Rs 102.6bn

Tax on foreign employment, health and education services

Rs 2.27bn

Rs 2.1bn

Vehicle and infrastructure use

Rs 27.49bn

Rs 36.6bn

Customs duties

Rs 128.06bn

Rs 126.8bn

Other taxes

Rs 4.36bn

Rs 5.3bn

Non-tax revenue

Projection

Actual

Interest income

Rs 1.56bn

Rs 3.5bn

Dividend

Rs 17.46bn

Rs 17.4bn

Rent and royalty

Rs 9.69bn

Rs 12.1bn

Income from sales of goods and services

Rs 17.35bn

Rs 17.2bn

Penalties fines and forfeiture

Rs 0.68bn

Rs 0.68bn

Voluntary transfers other than grants

Rs 0.002bn

Rs 0.001bn

Others

Rs 17.1bn

Rs 16bn

Source: FCGO

Revenue collection based on the annual target is given high priority in the revenue administration since the target based incentive system was implemented in 2008 when Baburam Bhattarai was the finance minister. It is reported that the government missed the revenue collection target in the fiscal 2017-18 for the first time in the last decade.

The government missed the revenue target in the previous fiscal year as the collection under the major tax heading was weak. A wide gap of Rs 9.82 billion was witnessed in the target and realisation of Value Added Tax. The government had set a target of collecting Rs 216.62 billion under VAT, but the realisation stood at Rs 206.8 billion.

Meanwhile, the government was able to collect Rs 128.06 billion from customs duties against the target of Rs 126.8 billion, according to FCGO.

The government also missed the revenue collection target under income tax — the second largest contributor to the tax revenue. The government collected income tax worth Rs 179.1 billion against the target of Rs 186.22 billion.

Though the government missed the revenue collection target under a few tax headings, the collection under non-tax heading was encouraging.

The government collected Rs 67.17 billion under non-tax heading against the target of Rs 63.84 billion.