ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Thursday announced that it collected Rs300 billion revenue in July 2020, overshooting the assigned revenue target of Rs243 billion by Rs57 billion.
According to the revenue collection data for July 2020, the Inland Revenue overshot the target by Rs52 billion, whereas the Customs Wing exceeded the target by Rs5 billion despite Rs25 billion relief given in customs duty.Â
According to FBR, in order to redress the adverse economic impact of Covid-19 on businesses, an unprecedented amount of refunds amounting to Rs15 billion were disbursed during July 2020, as compared to refunds of Rs7 billion during July 2019.Â
Sales Tax refunds are being issued under a centralized and automated system called FASTER which is clearing refunds to exporters within 72 hours for the first time as committed by the government in July 2020. Faster clearing of refunds eases out the liquidity crunch currently faced by the exports and the industry.Â
According to official figures, total customs duty collected during July 2020 was over Rs42 billion which is 6 per cent higher than that collected in July 2019 despite only a less than 1 per cent growth in the value of imports during the period.Â
The higher growth in FBR revenues is primarily on account of better supervision and improved administrative controls despite adverse economic conditions caused by Covid-19 during which the country mostly remained in a state of lockdown.Â
