LAHORE: During the first six months of the current Fiscal Year, Pakistan Customs has seized smuggled goods worth Rs30 billion as compared to seizures of Rs22 billion during the corresponding months of 2019.
On the other hand, FBR has collected a net revenue of Rs2.204 trillion, reflecting a shortfall of Rs6 billion of its six-monthly target of Rs2.210 trillion for the current fiscal year from July to December.
Income Tax collection for July to December stood at Rs816 billion. Similarly, collection of sales tax, federal excise duty (FED), customs duty remained at Rs915 billion, Rs127 billion and Rs336 billion respectively. Moreover, an additional Rs.10 billion has been collected from book adjustment. It is expected that revenue to be collected from book adjustment will increase in the coming days.
However, FBR’s net revenue grew by 5% as compared with the collection of Rs2.101 trillion in the same period last year.
For the month of December only, the total collected revenue stood at Rs508 billion, which was 97.7% of the target of Rs520 billion and showed a growth of 8.3% against Rs469 billion collected last December. There is an increase of Rs39 billion in the revenue collection of December 2019. This is the highest monthly growth during the Jul-Dec period.
In the first six months of the current Fiscal Year, refunds to the tune of Rs. 102 billion have been issued compared to Rs53 billion for the same period the last year. This represents an increase of 90 percent in the issuance of refunds.
Moreover, under the Prime Minister’s Corona Relief Package, refunds of Rs42 billion have also been issued this year. Despite excessive issuance of refunds this year, FBR has managed to collect significantly more revenue in comparison to last year when COVID had not disrupted economic life. Increased refunds have greatly helped boost economic activity in the country.
FBR’s appreciable performance demonstrates that despite the second wave of COVID, government policies have insulated the economy which is showing growing signs of economic revival across the broad-spectrum business activities.
During the first six months of the current Fiscal Year, smuggled goods worth Rs. 30 billion have been seized as compared to seizures of Rs. 22 billion during the corresponding months of 2019.
After many years, FBR has restored the sanctity of the last date of filing of the income tax returns. This has been welcomed by taxpayers who have filed 2.3 million returns till 31st December compared to 2.17 million last year. Income Tax paid during filing of returns stood at Rs43.5 billion compared to only Rs28 billion deposited last. This shows an increase in tax deposits with returns of 55 percent.
