The Federal Board of Revenue's (FBR) provisional revenue collection stood at Rs 2,328 billion during July-February (2018-19) period against the assigned target of Rs 2,565 billion for the first eight months of the current fiscal year, reflecting a shortfall of Rs 237 billion.
The provisional data revealed that FBR's revenue collection stood at Rs 2,328 billion during July-February 2018-19 against Rs 2,259 billion during July-Feb (2017-18), reflecting an increase of Rs 69 billion. The FBR is now facing an uphill task to achieve the desired annual tax collection target of Rs 4,398 billion for the current fiscal year.
According to sources, the monthly target for February 2019 was fixed at Rs 314 billion. The FBR has provisionally collected Rs 268 billion in Feb 2018, reflecting shortfall of Rs 46 billion. The provisional collection for the month of February 2019 was Rs 268 billion against the collection of Rs 263 billion in Feb 2018, reflecting an increase of Rs 5 billion (1.1 percent increase).
After book adjustment, the revenue collection is expected to increase to Rs 272 billion in Feb 2019. This would also increase overall collection during July-February (2018-19) period. The FBR has now requested the government to revise downward its revenue collection target but so far the annual target is at Rs 4,398 billion for the current fiscal year.
During last 3 days, the revenue collection slowed down due to Indo Pak-India tension and even the goods declarations (GDs) were not filed by importers as per normal routine during last three days, officials added.