Inland Revenue Office (IRO) to miss revenue target

IRO to miss revenue target
eKantipur.com, 9-Jun-2007
BY BINOD BHANDARI

BIRATNAGAR, June 9 - Two-and-half months of terai unrest during January to mid-March and frequent general and transportation strikes of recent days have badly hit operation of businesses and collection of revenue at Inland Revenue Office (IRO) in Biratnagar. As a result, the office is set to miss its revenue target set for the year, IRO officials told the Post.

"If the present trend of collection continued, revenue collection at the office will fall short by Rs 200 million," said Laxman Basnet, chief of Biratnagar IRO.

The government has set target at Rs 1.22 billion for the IRO for this fiscal year. The amount includes target for income tax, VAT, excise duty, tax on interest and vehicle tax. However, due to the terai unrest and bandas, the office has collected only Rs 809 million as of mid-May (10th month) of the fiscal year.

"We have to collect Rs 420 million in order to achieve our target,” said Basnet, adding that until and unless the situation improved dramatically, that seems very unlikely.

According to the report of the office, markets in Biratnagar and its vicinity have already remained closed for 150 days during the period.