Showing extraordinary growth in the revenue collection on the sales tax side, the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has collected Rs 297.2 billion against the target of Rs 292.5 billion during July-January (2004-05), reflecting an increase of Rs 4.7 billion. The major contributor in the overall collection remained sales tax, as total GST collection from both the import and domestic consumption surpassed Rs 126 billion during July-January (2004-05).

CBR spokesman and Member, Tax Policy and Reforms, M.S. Lal said the CBR collection would further increase after compilation of final figures in next few days.

The provisional collection of Rs 297.2 billion clearly reflects that the tax collection agency would comfortably cross the annual target of Rs 580 billion for current fiscal.

Data issued on Monday revealed that the CBR has collected Rs 297.2 billion during July-January current fiscal year, showing an overall growth of 8.4 percent over the corresponding period last fiscal.

Direct taxes collection was Rs 85.3 billion against Rs 82.2 billion, showing an increase of 3.8 percent.

According to the CBR, sales tax collection at the import stage showed growth of 12.8 percent against the same period last fiscal year.

Overall sales tax collection during the first seven months of the current fiscal year exceeded Rs 126 billion.

The collection on account of customs duty was Rs 59.1 billion against Rs 48.5 billion in the previous year, showing a growth of 22 percent.

Collection of central excise duty (CED) was Rs 26.7 billion with an increase of 15.6 percent as compared to the same period last fiscal year.

The monthly provisional collection in January was Rs 34.7 billion, which is likely to show substantial growth in coming days, officials added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2005