PM Imran Khan felicitates FBR for achieving tax collection target

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday praised the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for exceeding the monthly tax collection target during the outgoing month.

The premier wrote on Twitter: “I want to congratulate FBR for achieving tax collection of Rs1,840 [billion] for July/Oct, which is 37% higher than last year.”

He mentioned that the tax collection in October has surpassed its monthly target set due to a "robust economic performance.”

"Contrary to the propaganda, income tax collection also grew by 32% on a year-on-year basis," he added.

It is pertinent to mention here that according to the provisional figures the tax collection body has so far exceeded its collection by Rs31 billion and collected Rs428 in October 2021 against the envisaged target of Rs397 billion.

During the period of July-October, the FBR has collected a net of Rs1,823 billion against the assigned target of Rs1,608 billion, showing that it exceeded its target by Rs215 billion in the first four months of the current fiscal year.

According to reports, the FBR has achieved almost 55% revenue collection through duty/taxes collected at the import stage, so if imports are curbed under the International Monetary Fund programme, then the revenue collection would also be impacted negatively in the remaining period of the current fiscal year.

In the first 29 days of October 2021, the FBR fetched Rs428 billion and exceeded its assigned target with a significant margin of 29%. The FBR had collected Rs331 billion in the same month in the last fiscal year 2020-21.

The FBR's provisional tax collection amounted to Rs1,823 billion (net) during the first four months of the current fiscal year against Rs1,342 billion collected in the corresponding period of 2020-21, showing an increase of 35%.