ISLAMABAD, Dec 25: The sales tax collection from the car manufacturers has registered a shortfall during the first five months (July-Nov) of the current fiscal year.

Official statistics showed that sales tax collected from the four leading car manufacturers - Indus Motor Company, Pak Suzuki Motors, Dewan Farooque Motors and Honda Atlas Cars (Pak) - stood at Rs1.079 billion during the July-Nov period this year against Rs1.006 billion collected over the same period of last year.

Further analysis showed that Indus Motor Company paid Rs342.03 million as sales tax during the period under review against Rs95 million paid during the same period last year, an increase of 260 per cent; Pak Suzuki Motors paid Rs353.26 million as sales tax this year as against Rs410.25 million of last year, a decrease of 13.9 per cent; Dewan Farooque Motors paid Rs199.98 million sales tax during the period under review against Rs118.61 million over the last year and Honda Atlas Cars (Pak) paid Rs111.60 million sales tax as against Rs455.98 million during the same period of last year.

The sales tax officials attributed the shortfall to the fact that vehicles booked in 2003-04 have been cleared in 2004-05. Hence, output tax was paid in 2003-04, but input tax adjusted during current fiscal year at the time of clearance /delivery of the vehicles booked earlier.

They further said that procedural hitches and pressure from the government for clearance of pre-booked vehicles, forced the Indus Motor Company as well as Pak Suzuki Motors to stop fresh booking since October 2004. This also decrease sales tax collection during the current financial year, the official said.