Revenue shortfall to reach Rs50b

Tax collection target for first four months was Rs444.2 billion.

ISLAMABAD: The shortfall in tax revenue collection has increased from Rs36.6 billion to Rs55.2 billion this month. This figure excludes the last few days of October and the shortfall is expected to decrease to below Rs50 billion by the end of the month.

According to a senior official of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), tax collection to date for this financial year has been Rs389 billion while the target for the first four months is Rs444.2 billion. Tax collection for the month of October has reached Rs95 billion to date, he informed, adding that it is expected that the figure would rise to Rs98-100 billion.

The FBR official said that current tax revenue statistics are only estimates and revised data will be available in the next five to six days.

Sources said that the revenue shortfall for the first quarter of the year was Rs36.6 billion which has risen to a cumulative level of Rs55.2 billion to date.

The tax collection target for the month of October was Rs104.3 billion while the target for the second quarter of fiscal year 2011 is Rs381.5 billion, which is 19.8 per cent more than the tax collection of Rs318.5 billion in the same period last year.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2010.