The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has provisionally collected Rs. 740 billion in December 2022 against the assigned target of Rs. 965 billion, reflecting a huge revenue shortfall of Rs. 225 billion.
The FBR has so far collected Rs 3.428 trillion in the first half (July-December) period of the current fiscal year against the assigned target of Rs 3.673 trillion. The FBR collected Rs 2.9 trillion in the same period (July-Dec) of the last financial year 2021-22.
The FBR collected Rs. 740 billion for the month of December against the collection of Rs. 599 billion in the same month last year showing a growth of almost 24 percent as compared to the same month last year. This performance is despite huge import compression and zero rating on petroleum, FBR said in a statement.
Direct taxes collection continues to grow at a robust pace, which has shown a growth of 66 percent during the month of December compared to December 2021, a clear indicator of the policy of shifting the tax burden on the wealthy and affluent.
Direct taxes collection for the first six months has also registered a growth of 49 percent. This was achieved despite the fact that certain policy interventions having a revenue impact of Rs. 250 billion introduced through Finance Act 2022 could not be implemented as these are sub judice in the courts. The target for the month of December was Rs. 965 billion which could not be achieved due to the aforementioned reason, the statement added.
The FBR has also issued refunds of Rs.176 billion during the first half of the current financial year as compared to refunds of Rs. 149 billion during the corresponding period of last year.
