Customs eyes 20 percent boost to revenue collection
Customs eyes 20 percent boost to revenue collection
The Department of Customs expects to collect revenue of at least 15-20 percent greater than the past fiscal years, according to the department’s recent report for 2015-18 unveiled at a meeting in Vientiane last Saturday.
The department’s Party Congress was organised in Vientiane last weekend to identify the past achievements of the department as well as to outline the future strategic plans for the years to come.
At the meeting, Director General of the Customs Department Mr Athsaphangthong Siphandone said that along with the improvements in revenue collection, the department also intends to tackle illegal trade at the borders.
“Over the past years, over 50,000 cases of illegal trading activities worth over 1.3 trillion kip, and more than 47 billion kip has been confiscated. Most illegal products were vehicles, wooden and consumer products,” he said.
He explained that the sector is installing more advanced electronic tools to be used in an effective collection of revenue, especially for the use of an Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA), E-office and Smart Tax.
The department has set a plan of 20 percent for revenue collection each year, for example in the fiscal year 2011-12, it collected more than 3.5 trillion kip which was equivalent to 98.18 percent of the yearly plan (or 3.6 trillion kip).
In 2012-13, it was able to collect a total of 4.2 trillion kip or 95.84 percent of the yearly plan (or 4.3 trillion kip), meanwhile last fiscal year it exceeded 5.1 trillion kip, compared to 101.49 percent of the yearly plan (5.071 trillion kip).
According to the five year development plan for 2015-18, it expects to increase the collection of revenue up by 15-20 percent over past years, along with the improvements in human resource development and the use of modern devices in the collection of revenue.
Minister of Finance Dr Lien Thikeo co-chaired the meeting and called for the department to work hard to achieve the goals in the years to come.
“As long as the development of technology in the collection of revenue is already advanced, the customs officials should also be trained with professional skills and political ideology to meet the demands of the changes in the new era of the regional connectivity,” he said.
