When contacted, a senior tax official told Business Recorder this is just proposal and nothing has been finalised as yet. However, he said the government would take any decision after reviewing the rising cost of electricity. The Revenue Advisory Council has directed the Federal Board of Revenue to also take effective measures to check evasion of federal excise duty by the cigarette manufactures in NWFP during 2009-10.
Sources told Business Recorder here on Friday that the Revenue Advisory Council and tax authorities discussed measures to improve revenue collection in current fiscal. Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin has already directed the Anti-Evasion Cell of the FBR to extend its scope of investigation for checking tax evasion by the cigarette manufactures in the NWFP. Peshawar has been included in the list of localities where tax evasion by cigarette manufactures needs to be checked.
During the meeting, Director General of Customs Valuation Karachi informed the council that a new valuation system would be introduced to apply proper customs values on imported goods for accurate assessment of duties and taxes. In a presentation to the Revenue Advisory Council, DG Valuation informed the existing problems in applicability of customs values on the imported goods.
A new international system is likely to be introduced to check under-invoicing, which would ultimately improve overall revenue collection. The presentation mainly focused on timely incorporation of valuation rulings in the customs clearance systems for improving revenue collection. It was also pointed out that menace of under-invoicing is still taking place from China, which needs to be checked through new system. DG Valuation also shared valuation related data with the Revenue Advisory Council.
Revenue Advisory Council headed by Dr Hafiz Pasha noted that the current pace of collection of direct taxes and customs duty needs to be improved for which necessary measures needs to be taken. Sources said that the meeting discussed the present status of the revenue collection during current fiscal. The collection of capital value tax (CVT) from immovable property remained unsatisfactory during current fiscal. As compared to projected amount at the time of budget, the CVT collection from immovable property was not up to the mark.
The revised quarter-wise revenue collection targets are Rs 263.7 billion for first quarter (July-September) 2009-2010, Rs 313.6 billion second quarter (October-December), Rs 353.2 billion, third quarter (January-March) Rs 353.2 billion and target fixed for last quarter (April-June) 2009-2010. The overall revenue collection target would remain unchanged at Rs 1380 billion, but the FBR has internally revised the target.