FBR short of Rs303bn to meet this month’s target

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue is running short of time to generate Rs683 billion for September to avoid the IMF’s demand of slapping additional taxes under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme.

In the wake of severe floods, the FBR has slowed down but high-ups are still hopeful that their strategy devised in consultation with chief commissioners of large taxpayer units and corporate wings will maximise revenue collection.

Advance tax installments will become due and the FBR has geared up efforts to inch close to the desired revenue collection target.

The FBR has so far collected Rs380 billion revenue collection till Sept 19, 2022 and the board will have to collect Rs303 billion in the remaining 11 days to materialise the fixed target of Rs683 billion for September, 2022.

FBR Chairman Asim Ahmed in consultation with Member Inland Revenue Operation Amjad Zubair Tiwana held a commissioners’ conference online Monday to devising strategies to net the desired tax collection target for the ongoing month.

Materializing revenue collection target becomes immense important, as in case of failure the IMF will come up with prescription to apply alternate avenues to impose more taxes to restrict the budget deficit target within the agreed limits.

On other hand, the FBR has received representations from different parts of the country to extend the Sept 30, 2022, deadline for filing of income tax returns. So far, no final decision has been taken.

In the first two months of July and August, the FBR had collected Rs948 billion against the envisaged target of Rs926 billion, surpassing the assigned target by Rs22 billion.

To comply with the IMF conditions, the FBR will have to collect Rs683 billion during the ongoing month (September 2022) to materialise the desired revenue collection on its board for the first quarter (July-September) period of the current fiscal year.

The FBR has envisaged an annual revenue collection target of Rs7,470 billion for the current fiscal. Without achieving the desired target, the government will not be able to stick to the budget deficit target (the gap between total revenues minus total expenditure) of 4.9 percent of GDP and get a primary surplus of 0.2 percent of GDP equivalent to Rs 153 billion in the current fiscal.