The National Board of Revenue (NBR) on Sunday posted its highest-ever revenue collection for the first 11 months of a fiscal year, with 10.02 per cent year-on-year growth.
However, the record performance still left the tax authority well short of its target and underscored the challenge of meeting a much more ambitious goal next year.
The NBR collected Tk3,60,642 crore between July 2025 and May 2026, up from Tk3,27,785.78 crore in the same period a year earlier, an increase of Tk32,856.22 crore.
Despite the growth, revenue collection fell Tk81,442 crore short of the 11-month target of Tk4,42,084 crore, meaning the NBR achieved only 81.58 per cent of its target for the period.
The figures highlight the gap between revenue growth and the government’s fiscal ambitions at a time when slower economic activity and exports, subdued consumption and stress on businesses continue to weigh on tax collection.
Revenue growth varied across the NBR’s three major wings. Customs revenue rose 7.08 per cent during the first 11 months of FY2025-26, while value-added tax (VAT) collection increased 10.05 per cent and income tax receipts grew 12.54 per cent.
The NBR said collection accelerated in June, reaching Tk29,311 crore in the first 20 days, taking total revenue collection to Tk3,89,953 crore as of June 20 and already surpassing the previous full fiscal year’s Tk3,70,843.03 crore.
The revenue authority expects to collect another Tk25,000 crore during the remaining days of June, which would lift total collection for FY2025-26 to around Tk4,15,000 crore, the highest annual revenue collection in the country’s history.
Even if that projection is realised, revenue would still fall about Tk88,000 crore short of the revised annual target of Tk5,03,000 crore.
The projected year-end collection also illustrates the scale of the challenge facing the NBR under the proposed FY2026-27 budget, which sets a revenue target of Tk6,04,000 crore.
Based on the expected collection of Tk4,15,000 crore this fiscal year, the NBR would need to raise an additional Tk1,89,000 crore next year. That would require around 45.5 per cent growth in a year.
Economists say achieving such growth will be difficult without significant reforms to revenue administration, widening the tax base and stronger enforcement against tax evasion.
They argue that Bangladesh’s tax-to-GDP ratio has fallen below 7 per cent, among the lowest globally. The government has signalled determination to improve the ratio to create fiscal space.
The NBR said it has already formed separate task forces for income tax, VAT and customs operations to accelerate collection.
The teams are working to expedite disposal of cases pending before appellate authorities, tax tribunals, the High Court, the Appellate Division and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.
The initiatives also include uncovering tax evasion, recovering lost revenue, accelerating audits selected through automated systems, monitoring withholding tax and VAT collection, strengthening post-clearance customs audits and risk management activities and conducting joint income tax and VAT audits of high-risk taxpayers.
Commerce Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir said on Sunday that the government is going to execute the plan to split NBR into Revenue Policy and Revenue Administration wings.
