ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: The income tax collection has surpassed the target by 82.4 per cent during the month of December 2006 as revenue collection reached Rs75.7 billion as against the target of Rs41.5bn set for the same month.

Member Income Tax Salman Nabi told Dawn on Thursday that the unprecedented increase in income tax collection during the month under review was mainly due to growth in the filing of corporate returns and payment of taxes.

He was of the opinion that the revenue would further increase following the finalisation of the income tax collection in the next couple of weeks. However, he did not elaborate the break up of the income tax collection during the month of December 2006.

An official announcement issued by the CBR indicated that the over all tax collections reached Rs100 billion during the month of December 2006 as against the target of Rs89 billion set for the same period, showing an increase of Rs11 billion over the target.

Major contributory factor has been the improved corporate profitability, especially of the banking, oil and gas, and telecom sectors.

The overall collection of for the first half of current fiscal year has reached Rs409.2 billion as against the target of 381.1 billion, showing an increase of Rs28.1 billion over the target. This growth was due to the unexpected increase in income tax collection during the month of December as other three taxes — sales tax, federal excise and customs duty — has remained short of the target during the period under review.

The share of direct taxes in total collection has increased from historical level of 30 per cent to 42.2 per cent during the first half of the current fiscal year. Anticipating a continuity of this trend, the CBR expects that the overall target of Rs835 billion would be achieved, the statement added.