The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has achieved revenue collection target of over and above Rs 100 billion set for September 2007 with reasonable growth in sales tax and customs duty despite the ongoing political unrest, sluggish business activity in Ramazan, and decrease in the imports.
Sources told Business Recorder on Monday that the board had ''provisionally'' collected nearly Rs 84 billion sales tax during July-September (2007-08) against Rs 75.60 billion in the same period of last fiscal year, showing an increase of Rs 8.4 billion.
The collection of customs duty was Rs 22.9 billion against target of Rs 22.8 billion. These figures are provisional, showing satisfactory position of indirect taxes during the period under review. Sources said that sales tax on domestic consumption and import stage had contributed around Rs 84 billion, showing increased GST collection from registered persons and importers during the first three months of current fiscal year.
In case of customs duty, it is worth mentioning that monthly target of customs duty had been surpassed, showing healthy activity throughout September 2007. As the revenue collection is directly linked with economic stability, the business activity continued throughout the month without disturbance, leaving positive impact on revenue collection.
Even though some important political developments took place during last few months, retail outlets and factories remained operative during this period. The revenue target of first quarter (July-September) of 2007-08 was set at Rs 218 billion, against Rs 183.9 billion of the same period of 2006-07, showing an increase of 21.3 percent.
Sources said they were confident that the quarterly target of Rs 218 billion would also be met on compilation of final figures in a few days. The board has shown positive trend in provisional revenue collection. However, the FBR wanted to work out the exact growth in overall revenue collection. The expected growth in revenue collection vis-à-vis final revenue collection would be examined.
Sources said that direct taxes collection was around Rs 45 billion in September 2007 against Rs 44.73 billion in Sep 2006, showing an increase of Rs 0.27 billion. The board is expecting further increase in direct taxes collection following reconciliation of revenue figures received from far-flung areas.
Explaining reason for not releasing figures on September 30, sources said that the board has extended the date for filing of income tax returns till October 20. It would be appropriate to compare last year''s September 30 data with this year''s figure on compilation of all income tax returns'' data.
About federal excise duty (FED) collection, sources said that the board would compile data on collection of FED from financial services. The re-adjustment of FED targets under various commodities is also being under study. Secondly, the board will also compile data on Special Excise Duty (SED) collected during July-September 2007-08.
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