The Punjab Revenue Authority surpassed the revised target of Rs 105 billion for the financial year 2019-20 and collected more than Rs 107 billion by the close of the year.
Compared to the Rs 94 billion collected in 2018-19, PRA has registered a growth of 14%. This is a remarkable achievement considering the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdown. The Government of the Punjab had announced a historic relief package in April whereby the rate of sales tax on more than 20 services was reduced to zero percent for the last quarter of 2019-20.
The rate of Punjab Infrastructure Development Cess was also reduced to zero percent for April to June, 2020. According to a source in the PRA, due the pandemic’s devastating effects on the services sector, PRA did not resort to any coercive measures for revenue collection and surpassed the target without any bank attachments or advance payments.
According to the source, this performance augurs well for the future of the organization and the workforce is confident of achieving the Rs.125 billion target assigned for the financial year 2020-21, relying on taxpayer facilitation and stakeholder involvement. PRA has marked the year 2020-21 as the year of broadening of tax base and will focus on increasing revenue through increasing compliance and the number of return filers.
The performance by the premier revenue collecting agency of the Punjab is proof that revenue collection is boosted by a strategy of cooperation and collaboration between the taxpayer and the tax collector instead of an adversarial mindset.
