ISLAMABAD: Care­taker Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar held her first meeting with top tax officials on Friday to discuss revenue performance and ways to improve tax collection in the coming months.

The meeting, which took place at the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) headquarters, focused on strategies to boost revenue and address the challenges faced by the tax machinery. Secretary Finance Imdad Ullah Bosal, FBR Chairman Zubair Tiwana and senior members attended the meeting.

Mr Tiwana informed the minister that despite revising the tax target downward to Rs7.2 trillion, the FBR collection fell short by Rs31 billion in the outgoing fiscal year (FY23) to Rs7.169tr.

In comparison with the budgetary target, the FBR missed its target by almost Rs522bn, or 8.83pc, as against Rs7.64tr projected target for FY23.

Ms Shamshad emphasised on devising strategies to further enhance the tax-to-GDP ratio and broaden the tax base to maximise revenue collection. She also called for finding innovative ways to tax the untaxed sectors.

The minister stressed making all-out efforts to achieve the ongoing year’s revenue collection target, added the announcement.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2023