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The revenue authority has also strengthened post-clearance audit and risk management activities at customs houses, while simultaneously completing income tax and VAT audits of high-risk taxpayers.

Towfiqul Islam Khan, additional director, Research, at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said the shortfall from the revised revenue collection target of Tk 588,000 crore, including the NBR’s target, is likely to be Tk 100,000 crore this year.

For fiscal year 2026-27, the government aims to collect Tk 695,000 crore, including the NBR’s target of Tk 604,000 crore. The amount is 18.2 percent higher than the current fiscal year’s revised revenue target.

If the NBR’s projection of Tk 415,000 crore is taken into account, the tax authority will have to collect 45 percent more revenue next fiscal year. Khan said that, given the current trend in revenue collection, there is a risk of a Tk 100,000 crore shortfall next year as well.

“There has to be extraordinary performance in revenue collection to achieve the target. For this, the NBR has to curb tax evasion and improve institutional capacity,” he said. “There is no alternative to reforms to do this. Revenue mobilisation will be a defining factor in the implementation of the budget for the next fiscal year.”

Until May, income tax collection recorded the highest year-on-year growth, followed by VAT and supplementary duty (SD) from domestic economic activities and import tariffs collected by customs.

The NBR logged Tk 121,072 crore from direct, or income, tax in July-May of fiscal year 2025-26, up 12.5 percent year on year.

Collection of VAT and SD from domestic sources, the largest source of revenue, grew 10 percent year on year to Tk 140,168 crore.

Collection of import and other tariffs from international trade grew 7 percent year on year to Tk 99,402 crore.