ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has provisionally collected Rs 537 billion during January 2023 against the monthly budgetary target of Rs533 billion, reflecting an increase of Rs4 billion.
The provisional tax collection of the FBR stood at Rs3,965 billion in the first seven months of the current financial year against the assigned target of Rs4,206 billion for July-January (2022-23), reflecting a shortfall of Rs241 billion.
According to an announcement of the FBR on Tuesday, the tax machinery has demonstrated a commendable revenue collection performance during January 2023 and has not only achieved the monthly budgetary target of Rs533 billion but surpassed it by Rs4 billion.
According to provisional figures, the FBR has collected Rs537 billion in the month of January 2023, thereby, showing an impressive growth of 23 per cent compared to the same month last year. Cumulatively, FBR has collected Rs3,965 billion in the first seven months of the current financial year against Rs3,367 billion collected in the corresponding period of last year depicting a growth of 18 per cent.
The third quarter (January-March) of the current year started with an impressive performance and the team FBR is committed to meet the annual budgetary target of Rs7,470 billion for the current financial year despite economic challenges.
Direct taxes collection has grown at a robust pace, which has shown growth of 48 per cent during the first seven months of the current financial year which is reflective of the government’s policy of shifting the tax burden to wealthy and affluent segments of society.
It is also highlighted that the administrative and enforcement measures of the FBR have yielded results which is reflected in the growth of direct taxes in special and the domestic taxes at large. The growth in domestic taxes is 40 per cent during the same period.
The contribution of domestic taxes has also increased from 50 per cent last year to 59 per cent during the current year. Furthermore, it is also significant that the collection from Customs Duty has shown an increase of 16 per cent during the month of January 2023 as compared to the same month last year.
Additionally, the FBR has not stopped short of taking care of exporters’ liquidity problems and has issued refunds of Rs208 billion during the first seven months of the current financial year as against Rs183 billion during the corresponding period of last year which is 14 per cent more than the previous year’s issued refunds.
The FBR appreciates all those taxpayers whose due contributions helped in the achievement of the budgetary target and also lauds the endeavours of all field formations and its officers for their untiring efforts and commitment to optimise revenue collection in challenging economic situation.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023