MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Department of Inland Revenue (AJKDIR) collected Rs7.57 billon during first half of this fiscal year, exceeding the Rs6.56bn target by over 15 per cent.

AJKDIR Commissioner Sardar Zafar Mahmood told Dawn on Wednesday it was an unprecedented increase.

He said that the department collected Rs6.45bn in the same period last year, and around Rs1.7bn had come in shape of withholding taxes from the contractors of Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project (NJHP) alone.

Howerver, after completion of the project the withholding tax collection during July-December period of 2018-19 from these contractors stood at Rs150 million.

He said the DIR had collected Rs2.1bn from five major scheduled banks operating in AJK in income tax, “something that was overlooked in the past.”

Mahmood told that the income tax target for the last two quarters of current year was fixed at Rs9.8bn and he was quite confident of achieving it “smoothly.”

The AJKDIR had long been under the administrative control of the AJK Council. It was transferred from the Council to the AJK government under the 13th amendment in the AJK Constitution, passed by the joint sitting of the AJK Legislative Assembly and the AJK Council in June last year.

Mahmood, a BS-20 officer of the AJK DIR, who was serving on deputation in the Federal Board of Revenue since 2010, was recalled to his parent organisation under the directives of AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider and appointed as commissioner Inland Revenue.

He maintained that the record income tax collection during the first two quarters of current financial year had become possible due to the continuous support of the AJK government.

“The officers and staff of my department also worked dedicatedly to translate the task of surpassing the given budgetary targets into reality,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2019