ISLAMABAD – The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has outperformed its initial target of collecting Rs 2.551 trillion in the first seven months (July-January) of fiscal year 2020-21 by managing to collect Rs 2.568 trillion, surpassing the target by Rs 17 billion.
For the month of January 2021, the FBR’s target was to collect Rs 341 billion. However, the amount collected was Rs 363 billion, Rs 22 billion over the target.
“The revival of stalled IMF program is around the corner and the FBR’s performance for achieving its target for January 2021 will help restoring confidence of tax collection machinery,” a top FBR official told The News.
The FBR is confident that it can use this achievement to convince the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the tax collection target of Rs 4.963 trillion can be achieved for the current fiscal year.
The revenue authority will have to collect Rs 2.205 trillion in the remaining five months of FY 2020-21.
January’s collection of Rs 363 billion was 12% higher than the amount collected in January of the previous fiscal year and the highest monthly revenue this year.
Income Tax collection from July to December 2020 was Rs 816 billion, Sales Tax Rs 915 billion, Federal Excise Duty Rs127 billion, and Customs Duty Rs336.
For the month of December only, the total collected revenue stood at Rs508 billion, which was 97.7% of the target of Rs520 billion and showed a growth of 8.3% against 469 billion collected in last December. There is an increase of Rs 39 billion in revenue collection compared to that of December 2019.
Refunds issued in the first six months amounted to Rs 102 billion. The previous year’s refunds in the same time duration was Rs 53 billion. This is an increase of 90% in the issuance of refunds. Refunds under the Prime Minister’s Corona Relief Package stood at Rs 42 billion.
During the first six months of the current fiscal year, smuggled goods worth Rs30 billion were seized as compared to seizures of Rs22 billion during the corresponding months of 2019.
