ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue collected Rs 860 billion in the first four-month, missing the target by Rs 82 billion.
Only 317,000 people filed their returns so for during tax year 2016, while as many as 1.074 million people had filed returns in tax year 2015.
The FBR provisionally collected Rs860 billion during the July-October period of this fiscal year, registering just 4.4% growth over the collection of the same period of the previous fiscal year, according to FBR officials. In absolute terms, the collection was a mere Rs36 billion higher than the comparative period.
The FBR needed 14 per cent growth rate over its last year’s collection of Rs824 billion to hit the four-month target of Rs942 billion. The gap in the first three months was Rs60 billion, which has now further widened.
For the current fiscal year, the parliament has approved a Rs3.621-trillion annual target and the FBR was aiming to collect about 26% of it in the first four months.
The shortfall has widened despite the government’s claim that the FBR would collect an extra Rs100 billion during the current fiscal year due to recent changes in property valuation rates. The Rs100 billion was not part of the budget estimates.
The FBR officials said that the government’s decision to grant zero-rating regime to five export oriented sectors also affected revenue collection.
