August 16: The government is preparing to collect Rs 677 billion revenue under seven different headings in the current fiscal year (FY 2023/24). According to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), the amount is being collected under the headings of income tax, value added tax, excise duty, property and lease income tax, interest tax, education service fee and health service tax.

The department is expecting to collect Rs 298.35 billion under the heading of income tax. Similarly, Rs 157.21 billion will be raised under VAT. The department said that around Rs 145.53 billion will be collected under the title of excise duty.

In the last fiscal year (FY 2022/23), the department collected more than Rs 213 billion under the heading of income tax. According to the details presented by the department in the Revenue Management Seminar held on Tuesday, 100 taxpayers contributed more than 52 percent of the total tax in the last fiscal year.

Although there are more than 55,54,000 taxpayers in Nepal, just 100 of them pay more than half of the taxes.

An analysis of last year's taxpayers and the structure of revenue collection, it appears that Rs  251.73 billion in revenue. According to the department, this is 52.46 percent of the total collected taxes.

Last year, the department had set a target of collecting Rs 626 billion in revenue, but collected only 76.51 percent of it (Rs 479 billion).

Last year according to the department

Last year, a total of 2,991 taxpayers paid Rs 3.74 billion in taxes. This is 78.14 percent of the total taxes collected in the review year. Last year, the top 10 taxpayers paid Rs 1.8 billion in taxes, which is 22.57 percent of the total taxes collected.

The revenue officials said that they plan to effectively implement the revenue policies and programs in the current fiscal year.

The IRD will also implement the budget implementation action plan, complete the investigation of fraud and fake bills, identify taxpayers who are not covered by the tax system and bring them under the ambit of tax.

The IRD also pledged to bring electronic transactions under the ambit of taxation. The officials said they are working to identify the growing trend of fake bills and take effective action against them.

Similarly, revenue officials consider the decision to bring electronic services provided by non-residents to consumers in Nepal under the scope of tax, levying luxury tax, foreign tourism tax and foreign employment service tax as policy reforms.