The Iranian National Tax Administration earned 2,310 trillion rials ($7 billion) in tax revenues during the first half of the current fiscal year (March 21-Sept. 22), says Davoud Manzour, the head of the administration.
Referring to the growing trend in INTA’s tax collection over the years, he said, “Average monthly tax earnings increased from 150 trillion rials [$454 million] in the fiscal 2020-21 to 250 trillion rials [$757 million] in 2021-22 and to 400 trillion rials [$1.2 billion] in 2022-23.”
He noted that INTA aims to fund the government’s current budget entirely from tax income in the near future, Mehr News Agency reported.
Manzour said the rise in tax earnings owes to INTA’s fight against tax evasion, identification of new taxpayers and access to a centralized database leading to more accurate inspection of the economy.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance recently announced measures taken by the government, including connecting nine million point-of-sale (POS) terminals to the national taxation system and activating another nine million POS terminals.
“As a result, the number of taxpayers increased by three million by Aug. 22 … The number of tax declarations submitted to the Iranian National Tax Administration increased from 3 million to 4.5 million [a 50% increase] by July 22," he said.
The Comprehensive Taxpayers System, which is the main platform for the implementation of the law on shopping terminals, requires all sales and purchases to be registered in the form of electronic invoices.
The government says it aims to increase the share of taxes and reduce the share of oil revenues in the public budget, as the income from the sale of natural resources, including oil, gas and mines, will be spent on the development of the country instead of being injected into the current budget.