The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has released the provisional revenuecollection figures for the first six months of the current year.
According to the provisional information, FBR has collected a net revenueof Rs. 2.204 trillion, reflecting a shortfall of Rs. 6 billion of itssix-monthly target of Rs. 2.210 trillion for the current fiscal year fromJuly to December.
However, FBR’s net revenue grew by 5% as compared with the collection ofRs. 2.101 trillion in the same period last year.
Income Tax collection for July to December stood at Rs. 816 billion.Similarly, collection of Sales Tax, Federal Excise Duty, Customs Dutyremained at Rs. 915 billion, Rs. 127 billion and Rs. 336 billionrespectively. Moreover, an additional Rs.10 billion has been collected frombook adjustment. It is expected that revenue to be collected from bookadjustment will increase in the coming days.
For the month of December only, the total collected revenue stood at Rs.508 billion, which was 97.7% of the target of Rs. 520 billion and showed agrowth of 8.3% against Rs. 469 billion collected last December. There is anincrease of Rs. 39 billion in the revenue collection of December 2019. Thisis the highest monthly growth during the Jul-Dec period.
In the first six months of the current Fiscal Year, refunds to the tune ofRs. 102 billion have been issued compared to Rs. 53 billion for the sameperiod the last year. This represents an increase of 90 percent in theissuance of refunds. Moreover, under the Prime Minister’s Corona ReliefPackage, refunds of Rs. 42 billion have also been issued this year. Despiteexcessive issuance of refunds this year, FBR has managed to collectsignificantly more revenue in comparison to last year when COVID had notdisrupted economic life. Increased refunds have greatly helped boosteconomic activity in the country.
FBR’s appreciable performance demonstrates that despite the second wave ofCOVID, government policies have insulated the economy which is showinggrowing signs of economic revival across the broad-spectrum businessactivities.
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During the first six months of the current Fiscal Year, smuggled goodsworth Rs. 30 billion have been seized as compared to seizures of Rs. 22billion during the corresponding months of 2019.
After many years, FBR has restored the sanctity of the last date of filingof the income tax returns. This has been welcomed by taxpayers who havefiled 2.3 million returns till 31st December compared to 2.17 million lastyear. Income Tax paid during filing of returns stood at Rs. 43.5 billioncompared to only Rs. 28 billion deposited last. This shows an increase intax deposits with returns of 55%.
FBR is fully geared towards automation, e-audit, and simplification ofprocedures, e-payment of duty drawback so as to add to Ease of DoingBusiness (EoDB). FBR has launched a single page simplified Income TaxReturn for SME manufacturers.
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