ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) surpassed its collection target by Rs36 billion to reach Rs475 billion in March 2021, the highest monthly collection in the current fiscal year (FY21), according to provisional data released by the tax authorities.
The data shows that the authority collected Rs3,396 billion revenue against the target of Rs3,287 billion during the first nine months (Jul-March) of the current fiscal year (9MFY21), exceeding the target by more than Rs100 billion. This represents a growth of about 10 per cent over the collection of Rs3,076 billion during the same period last fiscal year.
Similarly, the net collection for the month of March against a required increase of Rs367 billion represents an increase of 46pc from March 2020.
Officials said that year-on-year (YoY) growth figures would further improve before the close of the day and after book adjustments have been taken into account.
The income tax collection during the July-March period stood at Rs1.25tr as against the target of Rs1.29bn, showing a shortfall of Rs39bn. The income tax collection, however, showed a growth of 6pc when compared with Rs1.18bn collected during the same period last year. The tax deposited with returns was Rs51bn compared to only Rs33bn, up 54pc.
Meanwhile, the sales tax collection jumped 19pc to Rs1.57tr in the nine months of FY21 from Rs1.32tr in the same period last year. However, the target was projected at Rs1.32tr which was surpassed by Rs250bn. The growth came as a result of a rise in fuel prices, increase in imports and revival of economic activities during the period under review.
Federal excise duty (FED) collections were up 4pc to Rs196bn as against Rs188bn last year. The FED target for July-March was set at Rs221bn, which was missed by Rs25bn.
Furthermore, Customs collection stood at Rs546bn during the July-March period this year as against Rs492bn over the last year, indicating a growth of 11pc. The target projected under Customs was Rs448bn for the period under review.
The FBR, in a press release on Wednesday, stated that the improved revenue performance is a reflection of growing economic activities in the country despite facing the challenge of the third wave of Covid-19.
It is expected that this revenue performance would be improved substantially during April-June 2021 as compared to 2020 when economic activities were disrupted due to the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan appreciated the FBR for achieving historic growth.
Taking to Twitter, the PM said, “I commend FBR efforts, achieving historic growth of 41pc in March-21 with collections recorded at Rs460 billion.”
“During July ’20-Mar ’21 our collections reached Rs3,380 billion which is 10% higher than the same period last year.” He maintained that it reflects broad-based economy revival led by the government’s policies.
Earlier on February 28, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had announced that it had achieved the tax target for the first eight months of the fiscal year, 2020-21, collecting Rs2,916 billion.
However, later it transpired that the FBR collected net revenue of Rs3,394 billion during the July-March period against the target of Rs3,287 billion. This represents a growth of about 10 percent over the collection of Rs3,076 billion during the same period last year. The net collection for the month of March was Rs475 billion, against a target of Rs367 billion, representing an increase of 46 per cent over Rs325 billion collected in March 2020 and 129 per cent of the target.
