RAWALPINDI - Customs (North) Region surpassed monthly revenue target before end of the month, a spokesman said on Thursday.

He added that Customs North Region has not only achieved but surpassed the targets of Customs Duty and other taxes assigned by Federal Board of Revenue, Islamabad for the month of May 2019 before the end of the month. During the month, till May 29, Customs North Region surpassed the target of Customs Duty by Rs438 million (45%), he said.

According to him, North Region collected Rs1,405 million against the assigned target of Rs967 million. Similarly, an amount of Rs1,612 million was collected under head of Sales Tax against the assigned target of Rs1,445 million, an increase of Rs167 million (11%). As regards all taxes collection, Customs North Region collected Rs3,889 million against the assigned target of Rs3,139 million, an increase of Rs750 million (24%).

Moreover, Customs North Region, during the period July, 2018 to May 29th, 2019 has gross collection of Rs17,396 million under the head of Customs Duty against the assigned target of Rs14,102 million.

Similarly, under the head of Sales Tax, an amount of Rs18,349 million was collected against the assigned target of Rs16,821 million. In case of total duty and taxes, Customs North Region was able to surpass its target by 5,699 million (14%) as it collected Rs46,103 million against the assigned target of Rs40,404 million. The trend clearly indicates that the revenue target for the month of June 2019 will also be achieved. Resultantly, revenue targets for the whole financial year 2018-19 will also be achieved, the spokesman said.

On enforcement/anti-smuggling side, he said that Customs North Region also performed exceptionally well despite logistics and personnel constraints to cover vast territory of three provinces. During the month of May 2019, the North Region seized smuggled and non-duty paid goods, including vehicles, narcotics, currencies and gold etc. to the tune of Rs. 216 million. In the corresponding period, May 2018 case valuing Rs155 million were framed. There is an increase of 40% for May 2019. Similarly, during the period July 2018 to May 2019, the North Region affected seizure cases, having value Rs2,587 million. During the corresponding period goods worth Rs. 2,612 million were seized. Currently, a seizure of 4.5 kilograms of heroin powder (brown colour) has been made at IMO, MCC Islamabad (value in international market is around Rs. 45 million), the spokesman mentioned.

Chief Collector Customs (North), Islamabad Dr Asif Mahmood Jah attributed this achievement to the untiring efforts and hard work of the officers and staff of the Region. He also expressed confidence that they will continue to strive for such success in future as well. The Chief Collector Customs (North) has enforced strict discipline and instructed the Officers and Staff to ensure strict enforcement and work honestly for the economic uplift of the country during the crunch period.