ISLAMABAD
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday expressed his strong displeasure over the failure of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in achieving the Rs 3.5 trillion tax revenue collection target for the last fiscal year.
An official source said the target was missed by Rs 100 billion, as FBR managed to collect Rs 3.4 trillion till mid night of June 30th, 2017, the last day of the last fiscal year. The FBR and Finance Ministry did not disclose the actual tax collection figures on the first day of the new fiscal year falling on July 01, 2017.
The source said that finance minister while chairing a meeting of tax mandarins on Saturday directed them to exert more efforts to collect more revenues till Monday evening. This could help push the collection close to the tax target, he added.
It is important to mention that the government had projected a revenue collection target of Rs 3.62 trillion for the FY17. The revenue gap increased to Rs 200 billion in first six months July-December period.
Tax mandarins attributed the tax concessions to the agriculture and export oriented sectors as primary reason for decline in revenue collection.
The government later on in February revised the tax collection target downwards to Rs 3.5 trillion.
However, FBR still faced difficulties in meeting the revenue collection due to the decline on economic activities. The FBR managed to inch closer to the tax target by forcing companies to make advance payment of taxes for the next fiscal year FY18.
This also created a wedge between the Finance Ministry and FBR on the tax target of Rs 4 trillion for the FY18. FBR mandarins are of the opinion that the tax collection target would be unachievable considering the slowdown in the economy during an election year and secondly also due to the recovery of large amount of taxes in advance to meet the revenue shortfall of FY17.
In another related development, the incumbent Chairman FBR Dr Mohammad Irshad left his charge after ending of his extension period on June 30, 2017. The government had given him extension in service for two months in April to complete the budget exercise for the FY18. The government was ready to give him another extension but Dr Irshad decline considering the JIT investigations, the source said.
A statement issued by finance ministry said, the Finance Minister Ishaq Dar chaired a meeting on Saturday at the ministry of finance on matters related to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Revenue Haroon Akhtar Khan, Chairman FBR, and senior officials of the Ministry of Finance and FBR attended the meeting.
The Finance Minister was updated on the latest status of the collection of tax revenue. He was informed that the final revenue figures were being compiled and a final position would emerge in the next few days. The minister instructed the FBR officials to expedite the process and ensure that all the amounts deposited up to 30th June 2017 are duly accounted for.
The minister congratulated the outgoing Chairman FBR Dr Muhammad Irshad on the completion of his tenure. He also presented him with a memento as a token of the appreciation of his services. The minister expressed his best wishes to Dr Irshad for his future endeavours.
