Shamshad wants to know impact
ZAHEER ABBASI & SOHAIL SARFRAZ
ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar has sought details from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on the impact of different amnesty schemes and tax rebates offered by the previous government on the revenue collection after tax officials stated that even Rs3,935 billion downward revised revenue collection target for 2017-18 may not be achieved.
The caretaker finance minister on Wednesday chaired a meeting on FBR’s performance for the current fiscal year.
Sources on condition of anonymity told Business Recorder that FBR officials stated that revenue collection of Rs661 billion is required in the last month to meet Rs3,935 billion target for the current fiscal year and that seems extremely challenging.
Sources said that according to FBR, total revenue collection for the current fiscal year may be around Rs3.8 trillion.
The FBR tax collection was set at Rs4,013 billion in the budget but was revised downward to Rs3,935 billion for the current fiscal year while provisional tax collection during July-May (2017-18) stood at Rs3,274 billion, leaving Rs661 billion collection in June 2018.
Dr Akhtar stressed the need to improve tax to GDP ratio of the country to fund the development projects and also sought the feedback from the FBR chairman on the impact of different amnesty schemes and tax rebates offered by the previous government on the revenue collection targets.
The minister also stressed the need for the up-gradation of the tax system through the use of technology. After the meeting, the minister directed the chairman FBR to make all possible efforts to achieve the revenue collection target this year. The chairman assured the minister of his all possible cooperation on the matter.
FBR Chairman Tariq Mehmood Pasha gave a detailed presentation on the measures so far being taken to achieve the tax collection target, the major steps taken by FBR to facilitate the taxpayers and the key achievements of FBR during the last five years period.
The FBR chairman briefed the minister that the tax to GDP ratio has increased from 8.7 percent in 2012-13 to 12.4 percent of GDP in 2017-18. He said that the number of tax return filers has almost been doubled to 1.4 million till 2017-18.
Tariq Pasha also said that for the facilitation of the taxpayers their CNICs have been made their national tax numbers and the numbers of tax slabs have been reduced to 4 from 7.
The minister was also informed that direct transfer of sales tax refunds into taxpayers’ accounts was a major reform to upgrade the tax system in the country.
The minister during the meeting discussed the overall macroeconomic condition of the country and the importance of FBR as the major revenue generation source for the government’s operations. The meeting was attended by senior officers of Ministry of Finance and Federal Board of Revenue.
