FBR collects Rs480bn in April

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected Rs480 billion in April 2022 against the set target of Rs485 billion, registering a shortfall of Rs5 billion.

The FBR’s target for July-March stood at Rs4,134 billion and with the inclusion of Rs485 billion target for April, its collection target touched Rs4,619 billion. Now the FBR’s collection in first 10 months stands at Rs4,858 billion, exceeding the target by Rs239 billion. Now in the remaining two months, May and June, the FBR would have to collect Rs1,242 billion for materializing the desired target of Rs6,100 billion by June 30, 2022.

This represents a growth of about 28.6pc over the collection of Rs3,778 billion during the same period last year. The net collection for the month of April, 2022 realized Rs480 billion representing an increase of 24.9pc over Rs384 billion collected in April, 2021. On the other hand, the gross collection increased from Rs3,981 billion during July, 2020-April, 2021 to Rs5,122 billion in current Financial Year July, 2021-April, 2022, showing an increase of 28.7pc. Likewise, the amount of refunds disbursed during April, 2022 was Rs.34.6 billion while in April, 2021 the refunds disbursed were Rs19.6 billion, registering an increase of 76.2%. Similarly, refunds worth Rs264 billion were disbursed during July, 2021-April, 2022 compared to Rs203 billion paid last year, showing an increase of 30.1%.

Even though FBR had agreed to a target of Rs6,100 billion with the IMF, the same was never made a target of FBR. So now FBR would need Rs484.5 billion per month to achieve the initial target of Rs5,829 billion and Rs621 billion each in May and June to achieve the revised target of Rs6,100 billion. The present government is fully determined to collect Rs. 6100 billion in this fiscal year.

Needless to add that the ongoing unprecedented and constant growth trajectory in revenue collection has been achieved despite massive tax relief given by the government on various essential items to common man. For the first time ever in the country’s history, sales

tax on all POL products has been reduced to zero which cost FBR Rs45 billion in April, 2022. Likewise, the revenue impact of sales tax exemptions provided to fertilizers, pesticides, tractors, vehicles, and oil & ghee come to Rs18 billion per month. Similarly, zero rating on pharmaceutical products has cost FBR Rs10 billion in sales tax during April, 2022. Thus, in aggregate these relief measures impacted revenue collection by approximately Rs73 billion during April, 2022. Furthermore, the political uncertainty and import compression also negatively impacted revenue collection during April.

FBR has introduced a number of innovative interventions both at policy and operational level to maximize revenue potential through digitization, transparency, and taxpayers' facilitation. This has not only resulted in ensuring the ease of doing business but also translated in a healthy and steady growth in revenue collection. Likewise, the incumbent top leadership of FBR has launched a new culture of collecting only the fair tax and not holding up refunds which are due to be paid. This has not only fast tracked bridging the trust deficit between FBR and taxpayers but also ensured the much-needed cash liquidity for business community.