June 03, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 28, 1429

ISLAMABAD, June 2: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) collected Rs849.563 billion during the first 11 months (July-May) of 2007-08 raising fears of missing the Rs990 billion target.

The tax officials will have to generate Rs140.437 billion in the current month to meet the downward revised target, which seems to be a far cry unless big taxpayers are asked to pay taxes in advance and refunds are withheld.

The government is expected to fix revenue target at Rs1,225 billion for next fiscal year, which is higher by 23.7 per cent over the ongoing fiscal year’s figure.

Official data released here on Monday showed that the revenue collection grew by 17.6 per cent during the period under review as compared to Rs722.5 billion collected in the corresponding period last year.

The FBR paid out Rs57.93 billion in refunds/rebate as against Rs77.608 billion the same period last year, a decline of 25.3 per cent. The decline indicates that tax officials have withheld refunds/rebate for achieving their respective targets.

The payment of income tax refunds registered a fall of 25 per cent to Rs21.895 billion as against Rs29.40 billion over the same period last year.

The sales tax refunds witnessed a decline of 31 per cent to Rs24.727 billion as against Rs36.099 billion in the corresponding period last year.

This means that the release of these refunds would mean that the actual collection would be much behind the projected figures, which may go further in the current month for portraying a positive picture of achieving the target.

The break-up of revenue collection showed that the FBR raised Rs309.4 billion as income tax during the period under review as against Rs272.905 billion, showing a growth of 13.3 per cent.

The sales tax collection jumped by 21.6 per cent to Rs332.120 billion as against Rs271.211 billion in the same period last year.

The customs duty collection grew by 13.5 per cent to Rs129.755 billion as against Rs114.279 billion the same period last year.

The collection of federal excise duty rose 27.4 per cent to Rs79 billion during the period under review as against Rs62 billion collected last year.