The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has suffered a Tk 1,021 crore shortfall in revenue income against its reduced target of Tk 27,050 crore for the last financial year, thanks to evasive attitude of large taxpayers.

Top NBR officials said they failed to achieve desired result from the large taxpayers unit, which was expanded through identification of new taxpayers in November last year.

They said a total of 1,100 taxpayers in that criteria have paid tax, which was less than the predicted amount. "Had we been able to realise

the target from this unit, we could have narrowed down the gap," a senior NBR official said.

In the fiscal year 2003-04, the actual revenue income target was set at Tk 27,750 crore, which was later reduced to Tk 27,050 crore.

But even the revised target was missed as the NBR received Tk 26,029 crore suffering a deficit by Tk 1,721 crore from the actual target.

According to preliminary estimate, the NBR earned Tk 660 crore less in income tax head for which the target was revised to Tk 5,270 crore from Tk 5,365 crore.

The national revenue collection body also saw Tk 217 crore deficits in

import duty. From this sector, the country earned Tk 7,083 crore against the revised target Tk 7,300.

However, the NBR witnessed an increasing trend in revenue income from value added tax (VAT). Last year, the revised target for VAT was Tk 8,575 crore and NBR collected Tk 8,647 crore exceeding the target by Tk 72 crore.

Sources attributed the shortfall also to less tax payment by developers and buying houses.

According to a NBR report submitted to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Finance, some top contractors, developers and engineering firms seem to have

paid no tax in the fiscal 2003-2004.

Some developers, which are selling thousands of acres of land and hundreds of apartments, were not named. Contractors were the highest taxpayers.

According to the report only over a dozen chartered accountants paid taxes amounting to more than Tk 1 lakh.

Doctors are generally considered to be in the high-income group. But only a third of the top 100 doctors were found to have paid more than Tk 1 lakh in tax.