SM HAIDER
ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected Rs 174 billion in May 2013 against a collection of Rs 182 billion in the same month of the last financial year, it is learnt.
“The tax collection remained slowed in May because of general elections as all economic activities were halted for almost 15 days,” a senior official of FBR said. According to provisional figures, the FBR netted Rs 174 billion during May 2013 against a collection of Rs 182 billion in the same month of the last financial year.
The FBR’s overall tax collection went up to Rs 1,682 billion in first eleven months (July-May) period of the current fiscal year. The government had fixed tax target at Rs 2381 billion on eve of budget 2012-13. The last administration of the FBR made efforts to place tax amnesty scheme to achieve the target but they failed to do so. The target was revised downward to Rs 2193 billion.
In the budget strategy paper approved by the former cabinet under Raja Pervez Ashraf as ex-PM, the FBR’s target was envisaged at Rs 2193 billion. Now the tax target was further slashed down to Rs 2050 billion. But Finance Ministry is now eyeing FBR’s tax collection target of Rs 2018 billion which also seems unlikely to be achieved.
For achieving its desired target of Rs 2050 billion, the FBR will have to collect Rs 368 billion in June to display its envisaged target on its board which is highly unlikely to happen.
Except tax collection in shape of Customs duty, the FBR has been facing shortfall on all three major taxes including Direct Taxes, Sales Tax and Federal Excise Duty. “The tax collection in shape of Customs Duty stands at Rs 212.2 billion in July-May period against whole year’s target of Rs 222 billion so the FBR will surpass this target in the ongoing fiscal year,” said the sources.
When contacted, Member Customs Riaz Ahmed Khan said that tax collection in shape of customs duty performed very well despite a decline in dutiable imports. “We are making our efforts to maximize revenue collection and will surpass our envisaged target till June 30, 2013,” he concluded.
