Despite COVID-19 and the slowdown of the economy, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has achieved the revised target of Rs. 3.907 trillion for the Financial Year 2019-20. It has collected a revenue of Rs. 3.957 trillion which is Rs. 50 billion more than its target.
This is the first time that FBR has managed to achieve the target of four trillion in a financial year which is particularly commendable in the wake of the ongoing pandemic.
The board has managed to collect Rs. 411 billion revenue in June 2020, higher than the set target of Rs. 398 billion.
FBR’s revenue collection target was fixed at Rs. 5.55 trillion at last year’s budget announcement. The target was revised downward thrice, going down to Rs. 5.238 trillion, then to Rs. 4.803 trillion, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic the target was further reduced to Rs. 3.908 trillion.
According to provisional revenue collection, the FBR paid refunds of Rs. 127.8 billion in 2019-20 as compared to Rs. 69.003 billion in the corresponding period of 2018-19.
It collected Rs. 1487.731 billion income tax during 2019-20 as compared to Rs. 1424.3 billion in the same period of 2018-19, reflecting an increase of 4.5 percent.
The sales tax collection was recorded at Rs 1598.896 billion in 2019-20 compared to Rs. 1461.616 billion during the corresponding period of 2018-19, showing an increase of 9.4 percent.
The Federal Excise Duty (FED) collection stood at Rs. 257.280 billion in the fiscal year 2019-20 against a collection of Rs. 241 billion, registering a growth of 6.8 percent.
Customs duty collection amounted to Rs 619.256 billion during the outgoing fiscal year 2019-20 versus Rs. 679 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year, showing negative growth of 9 percent.
Book adjustments fetched Rs. 19 billion while FBR paid Rs. 8 billion refunds on June 30, 2020, through FASTER software.
It is pertinent to mention that FBR has lost more than thirty employees due to the Coronavirus which also includes a grade-22 Customs Officer Muhammad Zahid Khokhar.
FBR employees have been performing their duties with great devotion and zeal, particularly in such a dangerous situation when their own lives are at stake due to the outbreak.
The most corrupt government department shows a slight improvement in their revised collection target, I wonder how many kickbacks they made in it…. Reforms are much needed in this area!