FBR exceeds three-month target with Rs47bn margin

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has exceeded its envisaged tax collection target agreed with the IMF with a margin of Rs 47 billion as provisional collection stands at Rs 2,024 billion for the July-Sept period against the assigned target of Rs 1,977 billion.

FBR Chairman Amjad Zubair Tiwana, on Thursday night, told The News that the FBR was assigned to collect Rs 794 billion in September 2023, but the provisional collection stood at Rs 816 billion as of September 28, 2023. The first quarter (July-September) period target was envisaged at Rs 1,977 billion, but the FBR’s collection touched Rs 2,024 billion on September 28, 2023. “Yes, the FBR has exceeded the target by Rs 47 billion for the first quarter and is expected to exceed by more than Rs 50 billion till September 30, 2023,” Tiwana stated. Meanwhile, the FBR has decided not to extend the date for filing income tax returns, however, the taxpayers will be allowed to request chief commissioners to allow the filing of returns for 15 days without imposition of any penalty. The date for filing income tax returns will not be extended, but the taxpayers will be facilitated in case of request to chief commissioners,

In a separate development, the government has established a task force to bring reforms in the FBR. A notification issued by the government said the federal minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs had been pleased to constitute a Task Force on Tax & FBR Reforms under chairperson of the minister for Finance herself. Other members will be Dr Manzoor Ahmed, Dr Musharraf R Cyan, Amanullah Amer, Aamir Ijaz Khan, Khalid Mahmood, Mehmood Khalid, Malik Amjed Zubair Tiwana, chairman FBR, Ardsher Saleem Tariq, member (Reforms & Modernization). ToRs say the task force will perform the following activities to develop proposals/measures for ease of paying taxes, propose an implementation plan for separating revenue collection and tax policy, review FBR tax collection data and relevant analyses and review tax system performance indicators and reporting mechanisms and identify areas of revenue performance and potential. It will also review the FBR access to internal and third-party data and its use in the tax administration and seek proposals from relevant agencies on developing further data use in enhancing collection efficiencies and lowering compliance and administrative costs.