Travel tax collection by the National Board of Revenue increased by Tk 216.67 crore or 143.15 per cent in the July-October period of the current financial year 2022-2023 as the movement of international passengers has become normal since early 2022, according to the NBR.
Travel tax collection by the NBR stood at Tk 444.47 crore in the July-October period of the current financial year compared with that of Tk 182.80 crore collected in the same period of the previous financial year 2021-2022.
The target of collecting travel tax from outgoing international passengers using air, land and waterways for the period was set at Tk 250 crore while the target for the entire financial year is Tk 1,006 crore.
According to the NBR data, travel tax collection from outgoing international passengers stood at Tk 767 crore in the financial year 2021-2022 and Tk 870 crore in FY 2020-2021.
NBR officials said that the revenue board set a higher collection target for the current financial year as the international travels had become normal following the withdrawal of Covid-induced movement restrictions.
Outgoing international passengers have to pay travel tax at various rates ranging between Tk 500 and Tk 4,000 for various destinations and modes of transports, including air, land and water.
They said that the revenue board in January 2020 introduced the online travel tax collection system to prevent evasion of the tax and remove hassles faced by travellers going to India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar by land and water routes.
The travellers are able to pay the tax online using debit and credit cards issued by banks through the Sonali Bank online payment gateway system, they said.
They are also able to pay their travel tax using various mobile financial services, including bkash, Rocket and UCash, they said.
Airlines agents now collect travel tax from air passengers while selling air tickets online.
Air travel tax would also be come under the NBR’s automation system in the next phase to ensure transparency and accountability, the officials said.
About 88 per cent of the total travel tax collected comes from air passengers, they said.