ISLAMABAD: The Customs Region (North) of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected Rs23.334 billion as customs duty during 2020-21 against the assigned target of Rs17.524 billion, showing a growth of Rs5.81 billion (33 percent).

Latest data issued by the FBR revealed during the month of June 2021, the Region collected Rs2,298 million under the head of customs duty against the monthly target of Rs1,554 million, surpassing the target by a hefty margin of Rs744 million (48 percent).

Within the category of other taxes, an amount of Rs2,210 million was collected under the head of sales tax whereas Rs5,393 million was collected as overall duty/taxes during the month.

The Region has been able to collect a total of Rs55,477 million as duty/taxes during the period July 2020-June 2021.

Despite continuous closure of Pak-China Border (Border Customs Station, Sust) due to the Covid-19 pandemic, other collectorates of the region i.e., Collectorate of Customs Islamabad and Collectorate of Customs (Appraisement), Peshawar performed exceptionally well enabling the region to achieve the overall revenue target of the Region, also covering Rs2,025 million as the Customs duty target, assigned to Collectorate of Customs, Gilgit-Baltistan for July 2020–June 2021.

Under the anti-smuggling measures, the Customs Region (North) seized goods worth Rs491 million during June 2021.

Moreover, the region has been able to seize goods worth Rs5,248 million during July 2020 to June 2021, which include non-duty paid (NDP) vehicles, dry/fresh fruits, narcotics, foreign origin fabric, tyres, electronics, cigarettes, and other miscellaneous commodities.

In his tweet on Friday, Prime Minister of Pakistan commended efforts of the FBR in achieving historic level of tax revenue of Rs4,732 billion during FY2020-21, as it exceeded assigned target for the FY2020-21.

Moreover, the prime minister also lauded the FBR in achieving 18 percent growth in revenue collection with respect to last year, which is evident of strong economic revival spurred by the current government’s policies.

Asim Ahmed, chairman FBR has thanked the officers and staff of the FBR for achieving rather surpassing the revenue target.

Not only the revenue targets have been achieved but maximum number of refund claims has been sanctioned during the financial year 2020-21, which has given a boost to the exporters.

Moreover, Dr Asif Mahmood Jah (Hilal-e-Imtiaz), Chief Collector Customs (North) also lauded the efforts of officers and staff of North region for achieving the revenue target.

He further stated that the FBR will collect more revenue, which will be spent for the welfare of the poor people of Pakistan and other essential projects.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021