The FBR is facing a revenue shortfall of Rs 150 billion during the first 10 months of 2016-17. Following the provisional collection of Rs 2,518.6 billion during July-April (2016-17), tax machinery will have to collect Rs 1,102.4 billion in the remaining period of May-June (2016-17) to meet the annual target of Rs 3,621 billion set for the fiscal year 2016-17. On monthly basis, the FBR will have to collect Rs 551.2 billion per month to reach the budgetary target of Rs 3,621 billion for 2016-17.
According to the sources, the FBR will be able to reach the figure of Rs 3,500 billion for outgoing fiscal year (2016-17) against the assigned revenue collection target of Rs 3,621 billion for 2016-17. Thus, the annual target is expected to be slashed from Rs 3,621 billion to Rs 3,500 billion for outgoing fiscal year (2016-17), reflecting a difference of Rs 121 billion. The provisional collection in April 2017 amounted to 258.5 billion against Rs 243.061 billion in April 2016, reflecting an increase of Rs 15.439 billion.
Taking into account the budgetary target of Rs 3,621 billion for 2016-17, the FBR had fixed Rs 1,194.2 billion revenue collection target for the last quarter (April-June) 2016-17 with the projected growth of 16 per cent. The target of direct taxes was projected at Rs 480.7 billion; sales tax, Rs 454.9 billion; federal excise duty (FED), Rs 85 billion; and target of customs duty was fixed at Rs 173.6 billion for the last quarter (April-June) 2016-17.
The sources said that the revenue collection target for April 2017 was set at Rs 290.7 billion. The revenue collection target for May 2017 was fixed at Rs 346.2 billion. The target for June 2017 was projected at Rs 557.4 billion. If the annual revenue collection target has been brought down from Rs 3,621 billion to Rs 3,500 billion, the sources said, the monthly targets for May and June would also be revised downward accordingly.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017