The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has released the provisional revenue collection figures for the first six months of the current year.
According to the provisional information, FBR has collected a net revenue of Rs. 2.204 trillion, reflecting a shortfall of Rs. 6 billion of its six-monthly target of Rs. 2.210 trillion for the current fiscal year from July to December.
However, FBR’s net revenue grew by 5% as compared with the collection of Rs. 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 Duty remained at Rs. 915 billion, Rs. 127 billion and Rs. 336 billion respectively. Moreover, an additional Rs.10 billion has been collected from book adjustment. It is expected that revenue to be collected from book adjustment 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 a growth of 8.3% against Rs. 469 billion collected last December. There is an increase of Rs. 39 billion in the revenue collection of December 2019. This is the highest monthly growth during the Jul-Dec period.
In the first six months of the current Fiscal Year, refunds to the tune of Rs. 102 billion have been issued compared to Rs. 53 billion for the same period the last year. This represents an increase of 90 percent in the issuance of refunds. Moreover, under the Prime Minister’s Corona Relief Package, refunds of Rs. 42 billion have also been issued this year. Despite excessive issuance of refunds this year, FBR has managed to collect significantly more revenue in comparison to last year when COVID had not disrupted economic life. Increased refunds have greatly helped boost economic activity in the country.
FBR’s appreciable performance demonstrates that despite the second wave of COVID, government policies have insulated the economy which is showing growing signs of economic revival across the broad-spectrum business activities.
During the first six months of the current Fiscal Year, smuggled goods worth Rs. 30 billion have been seized as compared to seizures of Rs. 22 billion during the corresponding months of 2019.
After many years, FBR has restored the sanctity of the last date of filing of the income tax returns. This has been welcomed by taxpayers who have filed 2.3 million returns till 31st December compared to 2.17 million last year. Income Tax paid during filing of returns stood at Rs. 43.5 billion compared to only Rs. 28 billion deposited last. This shows an increase in tax deposits with returns of 55%.
FBR is fully geared towards automation, e-audit, and simplification of procedures, e-payment of duty drawback so as to add to Ease of Doing Business (EoDB). FBR has launched a single page simplified Income Tax Return for SME manufacturers.
