Plan shared with Dar: FBR set to meet Rs586bn revenue target this month

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Asim Ahmad Tuesday shared a detailed plan with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for meeting the assigned revenue collection target of Rs586 billion in April 2023 through taxation measures of the mini-budget, withholding taxes, recovery of disputed taxes from courts, and administrative and enforcement measures.

The finance minister chaired a meeting on the revenue performance of the FBR following considerable shortfall in revenue collection during the first nine months of the current fiscal year (July-March 2022-23).

The FBR chairman gave a detailed presentation on the revenue targets and the performance of the FBR for the period July 2022 to March 2023.

July-March: FBR suffers massive shortfall of Rs304bn

Senior FBR officials informed Business Recorder on Tuesday that the monthly target set for the month of April is Rs586 billion, but the FBR provisionally collected Rs5,157 billion during the first nine months of the current fiscal year against (July-March 2022-23) against the target of Rs5,433 billion, which reflects a massive shortfall of Rs276 billion. The government had increased the standard general sales tax (GST) rate to 18 per cent apart from increasing the rate to 25 per cent on dozens of goods.

The FBR has collected Rs480.1 billion in April 2022 against the target of Rs586 billion in April 2023, reflecting an increase of Rs106 billion. According to provisional figures, the FBR collected Rs663 billion in March 2023 against the target of Rs727 billion, reflecting a huge shortfall of Rs64 billion.

Sources said that this shortfall necessitated the meeting to review tax collection and weigh options to bridge it and it was decided that the FBR will make all out efforts to meet its targets in the remaining months of the financial year 2022-23.

An official, on condition of anonymity, said that one of the major factors for shortfall in revenue collection was due to import contraction and ease on restriction on LCs would help increase revenue collection.

The finance minister extended his full support to the FBR in performance of revenue collection and stressed the FBR team to enhance their efforts to achieve the true tax potential in the country.

This shortfall in tax collection was despite the fact that additional taxes of Rs170 billion were imposed.

The meeting was attended by Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Finance, Tariq Bajwa, SAPM on Revenue Tariq Mehmood Pasha, the chairman FBR, and other senior officers from the Finance Division and the FBR.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023