- The FBR has recovered Rs 275 billion as of December 31, 2024.
- 1,326 billion rupees were collected in December, 47 billion rupees short of the target.
- FBR repaid Rs272 billion in the first six months of CFY.
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) recorded a substantial tax deficit of Rs386 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year (July-December), News reported.
The total revenue collection stood at Rs5,623 billion, short of the target of Rs6,009 billion.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had set an indicative target of Rs6.009 billion for the period ending December 2024. However, the FBR’s net collection reached only Rs5.623 billion in the first half of the year. current financial year (CFY). .
Projections already indicated a potential deficit exceeding 400 billion rupees, and it remains unclear how much of the revenue was collected through advance taxes.
The FBR repaid Rs272 billion in the first six months of CFY. After reaching an agreement with the banks, the FBR collected Rs72 billion in the current financial year after promulgating an ordinance fixing the rate of 44% on their profits.
Top official sources said the FBR had brought in Rs 275 billion as of December 31, 2024, thereby enabling increased collection. It collected 1,326 billion rupees against the set target of 1,373 billion rupees, resulting in a deficit of 47 billion rupees in December 2024.
“The FBR has demonstrated its ability to collect more revenue and reduce its projected deficit of Rs 80-90 billion to just Rs 47 billion in December,” the sources said.
The FBR collected Rs 2,826.5 billion as income tax, sales tax of Rs 2,105.4 billion, federal excise duty of Rs 346.6 billion and customs duties of Rs 617.2 billion in the first six months of the current financial year.
The gross collection amounted to Rs5.895 billion. After paying Rs272 billion in refunds, the net collection stood at Rs5.623 billion.
A senior FBR official claimed that net revenue collection has improved till receiving the latest figures, with the collection amounting to Rs5.623 billion against the assigned target of Rs6.009 billion agreed with the IMF.
It remains to be seen how the international lender would react when its assessment mission visits Pakistan likely in the second week of February.
Pakistan and the IMF agreed that if the revenue shortfall exceeds 2% of the assigned target, emergency measures would be announced to close it.
They could discuss reducing the tax collection target as desired by Islamabad, but the IMF could take additional fiscal measures to achieve the desired tax collection target of Rs 12.97 trillion by June 30, 2025.
Adviser to Finance Minister Khurram Schehezad said the FBR’s tax collection for the month of December 24 stood at Rs 1,328 billion, which was 97 per cent of the monthly target.
He added that the collection for December 24 is also the highest in a single month.