Rs1 trillion taxes collected in nine months

Federal Board of Revenue misses target for March.

ISLAMABAD:

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected over Rs1 trillion in taxes in the first three quarters of the current fiscal year.

The collection represents a 12.8 per cent increase over Rs886 billion collected in the corresponding period of the preceding year.

Documents available with The Express Tribune reveal that authorities collected a total of Rs123 billion in the month of March, a 30.4 per cent increase over Rs95 billion collected in the same month last year.

Of the Rs123 billion, direct taxes, in the form of income tax, contributed Rs55 billion while among indirect taxes Rs43 billion was collected as sales tax, Rs9 billion as federal excise duty and Rs16 billion as customs duty.

However, the collection for March stands Rs37 billion lower than the Rs160 billion target set for the month. Despite expectation of the shortfall dropping in the coming days, when final figures are released by the board, it is unlikely that the Rs160 billion target for the month will be met.

According to sources, it is also unlikely that the tax collection target for the fiscal year will be achieved, as FBR faces an uphill task of collecting Rs556 billion in the final quarter.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 01^st, 2011.