SOHAIL SARFRAZ

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is set to miss the budgeted over 34 percent growth in revenue collection target for the second quarter (October-December) 2019-20.

Well-informed sources in the FBR told Business Recorder that FBR’s internal working suggests a further downward revision in revenue collection target for the first six months of the current year by at least Rs 233 billion; this includes the Rs 164 billion shortfall in tax collection in July-October (2019-20).

The budgeted target of Rs 5.5 trillion for the entire fiscal year would also, as per the FBR’s internal working, be revised downward to Rs 5.270 trillion.

The FBR revenue collection has shown a growth of 16 percent during July-October (2019-20) against the budgeted growth of 28.7 percent. Keeping in view the shortfall of Rs 164 billion during (July-October) 2019-20, the FBR requires a growth of 34.6 percent in the second quarter, which appears unrealistic.

FBR sources however insisted that they are expecting some increase in tax collection in the second half of the current fiscal year on the back of expected activities in construction sector under Naya Pakistan Housing Project. With 40 industries linked to the construction sector ranging from steel bars, to cement, paint, wood etc, tax collection would rise as the economic activity picks up pace.

“If the government is able to successfully implement the CNIC condition from February 2020 onwards, it would bring a number of undocumented sectors linked to the construction industry into the tax net and thereby generate revenue for the government,” sources concluded optimistically.