ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has received 1,762,873 tax returns against the returns of 1,307,067 of the corresponding period of last year, showing an increase of 455,806 return filers in first eight months of current fiscal year.
These views were expressed by FBR Member Inland Revenue Policy Dr Hameed Atiq Sarwar during a media briefing on Thursday. He said the FBR had collected revenues amounting Rs2,330 billion against the set targets of 2,566 billion. During the period under review, FBR had received 455,806 new tax returns against the same period of last year.
He said the government had fixed revenue collection targets at Rs4,398 billion for fiscal year 2018-19 in order to tackle with the financial requirements of the country, adding that it was set to collect Rs 2,566 billion by end of last month (February).
He said an amount of Rs2,330 billion were collected as against the set target, showing an shortfall of Rs. 236 billion.
He added the FBR was determined to bridge the gap by enhancing its enforcement and bringing the potential tax payers under under tax net. He said the main reasons behind the revenue shortfall was fluctuation in prices of petroleum products including LNG and furnace oil in international market as the government had decided to absorb these shocks by itself and reduced tax rates on PoL products to facilitate the common man in the country, adding it was provided accumulated revenue losses of Rs75 billion.
He said previous government step to increase the exemption on salaried income from Rs. 400,000 to Rs. 112,000 created revenue shortfall of Rs. 35 billion, besides an amount of Rs. 55 billion was faced due to government measures for fiscal correction.
The other reasons in revenue shortfall was attributed to import compression that was introduced to bridge the current account deficit that had brought down the imports and reduced revenues by Rs20 billion, adding accumulated revenue losses of Rs15 billion were faced due to other sectors including cement, fertilizers and ban on the purchase of vehicles by the non-filers.
The member FBR further informed that refund bounds worth Rs15 billion were auctioned and the people had started to opt the schemes,adding that 78 claims were so far received. He clarified that there was no change in tax on cash withdrawal from the banks, adding that it was still 0.6 up to cash withdrawal of Rs. 50,000 for non-filers.
Hamid Ateeq said there was no tax amnesty scheme was under consideration, adding that FBR was negotiating with chambers of commerce to promote tax filing, adding that in first phase it would be introduced in federal capital from April first.
Meanwhile, Member Inland Revenue Operations Seema Shakil told that during current enforcement campaign 424 raids conducted which raised revenue demand of Rs 8.2 billion, adding Rs3.8 billion were recovered during the campaign. She said during the campaign, 9 persons were arrested, where as warrants were served to 2 persons, 46 vehicles and 78 bank accounts were attached and recovered Rs. 8.2 billion.
She said the raids were suspended temporarily in mutual consensus of trade bodies and FBR as they had ensured the full tax compliance in a meeting with chairman of the board.
She said under broadening the tax base, 6000 new potential tax payers were identified in mega malls of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
