Quetta customs surpasses tax collection target by 26%

Collection clocks in at Rs23 billion as against target of Rs18 billion for FY18

QUETTA: In a major feat, the Model Customs Collectorate (MCC), Quetta has exceeded the tax collection target for fiscal year 2017-18 by 26.26% to Rs22.9 billion. The tax collection target for FY18 was set at Rs18.136 billion.

“The unprecedented revenue collection has been made possible by enhancing surveillance on clearances at customs stations in Taftan, Chaman and at Quetta NLC Dry Port, facilitating bona fide trade, strengthening customs check posts en route and speeding up disposal of seized goods and vehicles through auctions,” said Quetta Customs Collector Ashraf Ali.



The customs collector said, “We have successfully surpassed our annual target and collected an additional amount of Rs4,764 million.”
Giving details, he said that the collection of customs duty rose by Rs1,968 million or 28 per cent to Rs8,984 million as against the set target of Rs7,016 million for FY18, while the sales tax collection was recorded at Rs9,785 million as against the target of Rs8,066 million, reflecting an increase of Rs1,719 million or 21 per cent.

Similarly, he said income tax collection also registered a growth of Rs1,002 million or 36 per cent to Rs3,758 million as against the target of Rs2,756 million, while the Federal Excise Duty (FED) collection went up by Rs74 million or 24.83 per cent to Rs372 million against the annual target of Rs298 million.

Ali further asserted that an amount of Rs1,491 million was realised on account of disposal of seized goods and vehicles during the year.



He further stated that concerted anti-smuggling efforts led to impounding of 871 non-duty paid vehicles, seizure of miscellaneous goods and foreign origin diesel and petrol worth more than Rs1,945 million as compared to Rs1,350 million seizures during the corresponding period of the last financial year, registering an increase of Rs595 million or 44%.

About 3,000 kilogrammes of narcotics worth more than Rs50 million were also seized during the year.

The collector revealed that the MCC had planned to expand the reach of customs controls to inaccessible areas by establishing new customs stations in Badini, Qamaruddin Karez and Ghaznali on the Pak-Afghan border.



Further efforts were also under way to improve the quality of customs clearances through enhanced internal controls, making the customs processes transparent, using technology for speedy clearances of goods, and expanding the coverage of the Customs Computerised System (WeBOC) for providing a secure business environment. In this regard, high-speed internet has been installed at the customs houses in Chaman and Taftan.

He asserted, “In the near future, all import and export clearance procedures will be shifted to paperless WeBOC system even at the customs stations in far-flung areas.”

The collector appreciated the efforts of his team, who made surpassing the revenue collection target by a wide margin, possible.