PESHAWAR: Member Tax Bar Peshawar Muhammad Umair Zeb at an online session said Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has depicted remarkable revenue generation with growth rate of 38.5 percent during the first quarter of FY-2021-22 as compared to last year.
FBR has collected net revenue of Rs 1,399 billion during the first quarter of the current financial year against the set target of Rs 1,211 billion, exceeding by Rs 189 billion showed provisional data released by the FBR, according to a press release issued here on Thursday.
Umair Zeb said tax collection posted historic high growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. During the first quarter, the FBR has far surpassed its revenue target by Rs189 billion.
After collecting over Rs4.7 trillion and exceeding its assigned revenue targets set for the tax year 2020-21, the FBR has successfully maintained the momentum set in July 2021.
The IMF officials were asking Islamabad to raise tax rates, especially for personal income in the last budget to show growth in revenue collection, which Tarin predicted will be achieved without any additional measures.
Muhammad Umair Zeb, a well-known tax expert of KP told that the FBR is well on its way to achieving the assigned target of Rs 5,829 billion for the year despite the daunting challenges, compelling constraints posed by the corona pandemic, and sporadic tax cuts announced by the government as relief and price stabilization measures.
He said, "This performance is noteworthy in view of the unprecedented tax relief package given by the federal government through the Finance Act, 2021. The government also gave major tax relief to sectors considered crucial for economic growth".
Taking part in the session, Muhammad Umair Zeb said Track and Trace System and Point of Sales System (POS) introduced by FBR were in fact a technological-based solution that enabled monitoring of sales and services on real-time basis. He defended the system and argued that it reduced the human interface and brought transparency in the tax collection process.
Umair Zeb said the FBR reliance on the use of modern techniques was expected to bring about efficiency and effectiveness in the tax collection. FBR has already offered this portal to the provincial revenue authorities in order to facilitate the taxpayers through a one-link facility.
With returns, the FBR received Rs 48.6 billion income tax against Rs29.6 billion with 1.8 million tax returns over the last year, showing an increase of 45pc in filing of tax returns while 64pc growth in tax paid with returns. Registering almost five times higher growth both in returns filed & tax paid with returns on the same date, last year (October 15, 2020).
The number of refunds disbursed was Rs251 billion compared to Rs135 billion paid last year, reflecting an increase of 86%. This clearly reflects on FBR's resolve to fast-track refunds to prevent liquidity shortages in the industry.
The speaker said in addition to meetings with various Tax Bars, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI), Traders alliance & other business communities FBR uploaded guides on tax processes on its websites established facilitation desks in Larger, Regional and Field office which yielded positive response in the shape of revenue growth.
Muhammad Umair Zeb said the success in achieving the phenomenal revenue growth 38.5 percent has been attributed to the conducted trust and cooperation of the taxpayers, continuous support by the Prime Minister Imran Khan, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, FBR Chairman Dr Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed, members of the Board and the relentless efforts of the FBR commissioners, officers and staff.
Muhammad Umair Zeb said he was confident that the FBR team would continue to work hard and achieve the historic high revenue target Rs 6 Trillion in revenues and 4 Million of tax returns by June 30, 2022. Thus, FBR is all set to give more surprises and thereby rewrite history.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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