FBR to meet massive tax collection target of Rs960b in 1st quarter of current FY

ISLAMABAD-Muhammad Javed Ghani, (PCS/BS-22 officer) on Tuesday has taken the charge of Acting Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for a period of three months after government removed Nausheen Javaid Amjad from the post.

“In pursuance of Establishment Division’s Notification No. 34/1/2018-E-1 dated 04.07.2020, Mr. Muhammad Javed Ghani, a PCS/BS-22 officer, has assumed the additional charge of the post of Chairman, Federal Board of Revenue (Hq), Islamabad on 07.07.2020,” said a notification by the FBR. The Federal government on Saturday has assigned the additional charge of chairman FBR to member customs Javed Ghani for a period of three months or till the appointment of regular chairman FBR.

The FBR under the Acting Chairman would have to meet gigantic tax collection target of Rs960 billion in the first quarter (July to September) of the current fiscal year despite slowdown in economic activities in the country amid COVID-19 pandemic. An official of the FBR informed that they are working to achieve the quarterly target despite slowdown in economic activities. “Tax collection may remain lower during COVID-19 situation. However, it will start increasing after economic activities accelerate after pandemic situation,” he added.

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Senior officials of FBR had informed the parliamentary committee in last month that it was estimated that the FBR would be able to collect Rs850 billion in first quarter of the current fiscal year. However, more efforts would be required to move from Rs850 billion to Rs960 billion by the end of first quarter of 2020-21. The government had set ambitious annual tax collection target of Rs4.963 trillion for the current financial year, which had termed unrealistic by the economic experts without additional revenue generation measures.

The FBR had missed the budgetary target by whopping Rs1.561 trillion in last fiscal year. The FBR had collected Rs3989 billion as against the initial target of Rs5.55 trillion. The federal government had downward the tax collection target several times in previous fiscal year.

Initially, the federal government had set tax collection target at Rs5.55 trillion for the last financial year. But it was revised downward to Rs5,238 billion after first review of IMF under $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme. However, the FBR has struggled to achieve its monthly targets, which led to further reduce the target to Rs4.8 trillion. Later, after COVID-19, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) further slashed down the FBR’s tax collection target to the tune of Rs3,907 billion for outgoing fiscal year. However, at the end of fiscal year, FBR had collected revenue of 3989 billion in FY 2019-20 which is Rs82 billion more than the revised revenue target of Rs3907 billion set for the outgoing Fiscal Year. The FBR had attributed massive tax collection shortfall due to outbreak of Corona Virus and reduction of imports to overcome Current Account Deficit.

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It is worth mentioning here that government had transferred the former chairperson FBR Nausheen Javaid Amjad and appointed as secretary culture and heritage. Meanwhile, a special Board-in-Council meeting was held in the honour of outgoing Chairperson Nausheen Javaid Amjad. The meeting was attended by Acting Chairman Muhammad Javed Ghani and all members of FBR who appreciated the services of Nausheen Javaid Amjad as Member and Chairperson FBR. The Acting Chairman Muhammad Javed Ghani presented a shield to the outgoing Chairperson and expressed warm wishes on her future responsibilities.

Article source: https://nation.com.pk/08-Jul-2020/fbr-to-meet-massive-tax-collection-target-of-rs960b-in-1st-quarter-of-current-fy