Islamabad: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) exceeded its August revenue target by Rs6 billion despite it issuing 161% more refunds.
According to the provisional information, the FBR collected net revenue of Rs489 billion during August 2022, which exceeded the target of Rs483 billion. This is an increase of Rs41 billion on a year-on-year basis as it collected Rs448 billion in the same period last year.
“These figures would further improve after the book adjustments have been taken into account,” the FBR said in a statement.
It also said that the collections made in August this year were the highest ever to be collected in the same month.
“This outstanding revenue performance is a reflection of FBR’s resolve to build on its growth trajectory despite floods, zero rating on POL products, and import compression,” the statement further read.
FBR exceeds Rs 6.1 trillion revenue target; collects Rs 6.125tr net revenue during FY2022
On the other hand, the gross collection also increased from Rs462 billion during August last year to Rs526 billion, showing an increase of 14%.
Likewise, the total refunds disbursed during August was Rs37 billion compared to Rs14.3 billion paid last year, a whopping increase of 161%.
“This is reflective of FBR’s strong commitment to fast-track refunds and thereby prevent liquidity shortages in the industry.”
The statement attributed the increase in the collection to the prudent revenue measures introduced by the government in the Finance Act 2022.
“Unlike in the past, there is a visible focus on taxing the rich and affluent. Owing to this paradigm shift, the growth in domestic Income Tax is almost 38% which is a remarkable shift towards direct taxation. Likewise, there is a significant upsurge in Advance Tax collected during August, which is a 72% increase from the corresponding period of the previous year,” the statement added.
Provisional collection of Income Tax, Sales Tax, Federal Excise and Customs Duty was Rs165 billion, Rs218 billion, Rs24 billion and Rs82 billion, respectively.
Cumulatively, during the first two months of the current fiscal year (FY23), the total taxes collected stand at Rs948 billion against the target of Rs926 billion.