Iran's Tax Collection Again Rise Over Oil Export Earnings

Financial Tribune – The government’s tax revenues once again exceeded its those from the exports of oil and petroleum products in the four months of the current fiscal year (March 21-July 22), in line with President Hassan Rouhani’s economic strategy to boost tax revenues.

The latest report by the Central Bank of Iran indicates that revenues associated with petroleum sales stood at 261 trillion rials ($6.6 billion) for the four-month period, posting a 147% increase and meeting 67% of what the government had expected to earn as per the budget estimate.

This comes as the government’s overall revenues, including tax proceeds, amounted to 374.8 trillion rials ($9.6 billion), registering a 5.7% decline YOY. Although tax revenues were projected to hover around 395.6 trillion rials ($10.14 billion), they only reached 296.9 trillion rials ($7.61 billion).

The government’s tax revenues consist of its returns from direct and indirect taxation. Direct taxes include three groups of “tax on legal entities”, “income tax” and “wealth tax”.

Overall, direct tax revenues stood at 159.8 trillion rials ($4.1 billion) during the four months, registering a decline of 3.8% over last year's similar period.