By Asghari Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Friday announced to achieve over 99 percent tax target for the first six months of the ongoing fiscal year, 2020-21, after it collected net revenue of Rs 2,204 billion.
According to a handout issued by the FBR, a collection of Rs 2,204 billion tantamount to the highest collection of the FBR in the first six months of any year. “This collection within the first six months of the fiscal year is five percent more than the previous year,” it said.
While giving detail of taxes collected under separate heads, the FBR said that they received income tax of Rs816 billion, Rs 915 billion of sales tax, Rs127 billion of excise duty, and Rs 336 billion of customs duty during the period.
“We have also collected Rs10 billion under book adjustments,” the tax collection body said.
Further detailing the revenue collection during December 2020, it said that revenue of Rs508 billion was collected, achieving 97.7 percent of the tax target. “During the same month of the previous year, the tax collection stood at Rs469 billion, showing an 8.3 percent increase (Rs39 billion) in the ongoing year,” it said.
The FBR said that they had issued a tax refund of Rs102 billion during the first six months of the fiscal year. “This is 90 percent more than the same period of the previous year which saw refunds of Rs 53 billion,” it said adding that the current year also saw Rs 42 billion refunds under Prime Minister corona relief package. The handout said that the tax refunds have improved economic activity, further adding that the FBR has begun the electronic filing process for the refunds from January 2021.
