ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) collected Rs200 billion in April this year as compared to Rs175 billion it collected in the same month last year, reflecting 14.28 per cent increase.
According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the overall revenue collection during the first 10 months (July-April) of this fiscal year rose 13.18pc to Rs1,975 billion from Rs1,745 billion in the same period of last year.
The government has already revised downward the revenue target to Rs2,691 billion from Rs2,810 billion for 2014-15. For achieving the revised target, the tax authorities still has to collect Rs716 billion in next two months (May-June). The revenue collection in the two months of last fiscal year was Rs521.392 billion.
The government is set to miss the revenue target by a big margin for the second consecutive year because of fundamental flaws in the tax machinery which remain almost untouched.
The FBR refunded Rs99.728 billion during the July-April 2014-15 as against Rs90 billion paid in the corresponding period of last year.
Business community was complaining that refunds were mostly withheld under the income tax because the payment of customs and sales tax rebate/refund witnessed a nominal increase. So bulk of the refunds withheld so far was in the income tax.