ISLAMABAD - The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has achieved the second quarter (October to December) tax collection target of Rs750 billion with the help of mini budget and higher General Sales Tax on petroleum products.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had set Rs750 billion tax collection target for FBR for October to December period of the ongoing fiscal year 2015-2016. “We have collected Rs770 billion during second quarter of the current fiscal year,” said Dr Mohammad Iqbal official spokesperson of the FBR talking to The Nation. We have not only achieved the second quarter’s target but also covered Rs20 billion out of Rs40 billion shortfall occurred during first quarter, he added.
The FBR meet its target due to the massive taxation introduced by the government including unveiling Rs40 billion mini budget on November 30 along with keeping GST on oil products at higher side to generation additional revenue. The government had taken taxation measures of Rs40 billion from December 1, 2015.
Meanwhile, the FBR collected Rs1370 billion during first six months (July-December) of the ongoing fiscal year.
The FBR had missed the first quarter target of Rs640 billion by Rs40 billion, which forced the government to impose new taxes. The IMF had set quarterly revenue collection targets of Rs640 billion for July-September, Rs750 billion for October to December, Rs716 billion for January to March and Rs998 billion for April to June to achieve mammoth annual target of Rs3104 billion.
The government had already introduced massive taxation measures worth of Rs253 billion in the budget 2015-2016 in order to reach the ambitious revenue collection target of Rs3.1 trillion. The government has set the tax collection target at Rs3.1 trillion for the ongoing fiscal year 2015-2016 as against Rs2.5 trillion of the last year with a growth of more than 19 percent. The government has introduced new customs duties worth of Rs41.95 billion, sales tax and Federal Excise Duty Rs54 billion and income tax Rs142.3 billion in the budget. The government has also withdrawn tax exemptions worth of Rs132 billion for the next fiscal year.
Dar lauds performance of NFC award
monitoring committee members
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday chaired the meeting to review the 2nd bi-annual monitoring report on the implementation of the 7th NFC Award for the period from January –June 2015.
Secretary Finance Dr Waqar Massod briefed the meeting, which was attended by provincial finance ministers from Punjab and Sindh participated. Secretary finance briefed the chair and the participants that the total tax collection as reported by FBR remained Rs 2523.563 billion for the financial year 2014-15, out of which Rs1356.50 were collected in the second half of the financial year 2014-15.
After subtracting non-divisible pool components and 1% each as collection charges and additionally paid to KP government on account of war on terror, the net divisible pool comes to Rs.1303.65 billion. The share of the provincial governments was Rs 749.59 billion and the federal government was left with 554.05 billion to look after its expenditure. Secretary finance also briefed that individually Punjab received Rs.387.84 billion, Sindh Rs184.03 billion, KPK Rs.109.59 billion and Rs.68.14 billion were received by Balochistan. KP and Balochistan also received Rs.13.15 and Rs.2.46 billion respectively on account of war on terror and additionality.
The finance minister appreciated the performance of the members of the NFC Award Monitoring Committee and said that as per the requirements of the Article 160 (3B) of the Constitution the report would be laid in both houses of the parliament and provincial assemblies. The minister also said that it is with the cooperation of his team that he had been able to accomplish all the targets for set for this year.