December 12, 2008	Friday	Zilhaj 13, 1429

KARACHI, Dec 11: Revenue collected at Customs stage rose by 29 per cent during first five months (July-Nov) of the current fiscal year, 2008-09.

According to official figures Model Customs Collectorate of PACCs, collected Rs51.134 billion in revenue during the period under review compared to Rs39.612 billion in the same period last year.

The highest growth in collection was registered by regulatory duty, which increased by 82 per cent from Rs1.232 billion to Rs2.239 billion. The collection of central excise duty at customs stage stood at Rs607 million or 42 per cent higher over Rs427 million collected a year ago.

The collection of customs duty recorded 32 per cent increase during July-Nov period at Rs20.913 billion against Rs15.883 billion made during the same period last year.

Similarly, sales tax collections at customs stage stood higher at Rs22.744 billion or 28 per cent over previous year’s collection of Rs17.772 billion.

The advance income tax or withholding tax collections stood at Rs4.631 billion or 8 per higher over Rs4.298 billion collected earlier.

According to official figures the value of total imports during first five months stood at Rs306.885 billion or 31 per cent higher over Rs234.764 of the corresponding period last year.

However, the value of dutiable imports declined by one per cent to Rs138.369 billion from Rs140.072 billion recorded last year.

The value of duty free imports, however, increased by 78 per cent to Rs168.516 billion from Rs94.692 billion earlier.

Recovery of revenue through detection and demand during the current July-Nov period stood at Rs2.205 billion or 32 per cent higher from Rs1.674 billion of last year.

According to official data Rs1.005 billion were recovered on account of customs duty, which stood 30 per cent higher over the corresponding period last year when it stood at Rs772.89 million.

The recovery of sales tax through detection during the period under review stood at Rs894.18 million or 43 per cent higher over the corresponding period last year when it stood at Rs623.95 million.

However, there was a fall in recovery of advance income tax collected at customs stage by 24 per cent at Rs157.35 million from Rs206.75 million last year.

The recovery of regulatory duty during five months increased by 169 per cent to Rs100.53 million from Rs37.40 million a year ago.

There was nil collection of capital value tax compared to Rs0.45 million recovered in the same period last year.