PRA surpasses revenue collection target

LAHORE:Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) surpassed Rs100 billion revenue collection target for the fiscal year 2022-23 during the ongoing month of January while aiming Rs200 billion collection in the fiscal year.

By achieving so, the PRA has become the first provincial revenue collection agency across the country which collected such huge amount of revenue within almost six months of any fiscal year. The government has fixed Rs190 billion revenue collection target to the PRA for the fiscal year 2022-23, while it has collected almost 53 percent of the assigned target.

According to consolidated data available with The News, PRA surpassed Rs100 billion revenue collection mark by January 15, 2023. The PRA has collected Rs92.549 billion revenue during the first six months (July-December) of the ongoing fiscal year. The pro-rata target of revenue collection till December 2022 was Rs85.9 billion while the PRA witnessed over 30 percent growth in revenue collection by collecting over Rs92.5 billion during the period.

The PRA also collected Rs12.5 billion higher than the Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) which collected Rs80.338 billion in the first six months of the ongoing fiscal year. However, the SRB has also witnessed over 30 percent revenue collection growth in the same period as compared corresponding period of the last fiscal year of Rs65.50 billion. The PRA had collected Rs71.248 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. An official of the PRA disclosed that the Authority has already requested the Finance Department to upward revised the revenue collection target to it so that the officials of the Authority will more work to achieve the target. The PRA accounted for over 60 percent of Punjab’s own source tax revenue during the last financial year (2021-22), collecting over Rs170 billion and exceeding its assigned target of Rs155 billion. The performance in the current financial year depicts that the Authority is well on its way to repeating the feat in the current financial year, he believed.

The official said that the PRA has been adhering its policy of revenue maximisation through taxpayer facilitation and education and avoidance of any coercive measures. The policy has proved a success and improve the taxpayers trust in the PRA. Further, the policy has proved that the future of revenue collection lies in collaboration rather than confrontation with taxpayers.

The data shows that the PRA has witnessed tremendous revenue collection growth from services provided by the port operator of 80 percent and contractual execution of work or furnishing supplies of 72 percent in December 2022. Further, the withholding agent services contributed the largest share to the revenue in December 2022 of Rs4.979 billion, followed by telecommunication Rs3.397 billion, and Rs1.66 billion by the banking/non-banking/ insurance services providers. The revenue collection from the restaurants has also witnessed growth of 33 percent with contribution of Rs425 million, despite the fact reduced rate of taxes is applied to the sector.