FBR increases 60pc domestic tax collection in one year

The filing of returns of income for tax year 2018 had reached to the total number of 2,404,371

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in one year of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has increased 60 percent collection of (Inland Revenue) IR Domestic Taxes.

According to the one year performance report of the PTI government shared by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan on Sunday, the FBR while broadening the Tax Base (Inland Revenue Policy) had achieved 99.2 percent target of taxes collection during the month of July 2019 by the IR-Operations Wing, which was Rs234 billion against the target of Rs236 billion of the assigned target.

The filing of returns of income for tax year 2018 had reached to the total number of 2,404,371 as compared to 1,486,756 returns filed for the tax year 2017 indicating a growth of 62 percent over the last year.

During Fiscal year 2018-19 the number of new tax payers who filed returns of income was 348,140 as compared to 146,096 filed during 2017-18 registering an increase of 137 percent.

“In July 2019 the collection of sales tax is Rs123.4 billion which is 26.4 percent higher than the collection of sales tax in July 2018 which was Rs97.6 billion. Similarly, Federal Excise Duty (FED) collection in July 2019 is 20 percent higher than the collection in July 2018,” it added.

However, the tax collected under the Income Tax (other than Amnesty) in July 2019 was Rs85.2 billion which is 42 percent higher than the collection of Income Tax in July 2018.

During last one year, 6,451 high net worth cases were identified on the basis of economic transactions. Specialized units had been created within Regional Tax Offices (RTOs) for fast track processing of these cases. As a result of which 2,989 returns had been enforced. Moreover, the demand created was Rs4,915 million and the tax recovered was Rs1,648 million.

“Rs189 million have been paid by the taxpayers who availed the amnesty on the basis of the action taken by the specialized units,” the report revealed. Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Rule, 2019 were also issued by the IR-Operations Wing which created authorities to function under the Benami Act.

The report while narrating the Customs Operations Performance mentioned that the initiatives made included introduction of Devices Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) was made, establishment of National Targeting Centre (NTC), Border Management Initiatives for Effective anti-smuggling and Appraisement, creation of Directorate of Cross Border Currency Movement (CBCM), launch of Authorized Economic Operator Programme.

The Customs Operations Performance also noted exemption of Custom Duty on import of Plant and machinery by Greenfield projects and industry through supplementary budget, exemption or Reduction of Custom Duty (CD) on industrial inputs, Export Facilitation through Reduction in retention period, Extension of exemption for erstwhile federally administered tribal areas (FATA region), automation and simplification, Increasing coverage of regulatory duty (RD) regime, increase in pitch of Additional Customs Duty, installation of scanners at various customs stations in Pakistan to facilitate and secure imports and exports.

However, the further core initiatives taken were optimum compliance to the provisions of Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI); generate economic activity; create employment opportunities and promote exports.

It also included successful deployment of the National Customs Enforcement Network (NCEN) [a system developed by the World Customs Organization (WCO)] in Data Center of FBR in collaboration with the Department for International Development (DFID) and WCO free of cost.

The FBR had also made strategic planning reforms (Recent Initiatives) were establishment of Tax Intelligence Unit (TIU) and Market Monitoring & Intervention (MMI) under the Trust Fund for Accelerated Growth and Reforms (TAGR) Project. It also had launch of Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM) Project, creation of Tax Policy Unit within the Ministry of Finance, Plaza Mapping at Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.

The FBR had also introduced a Currency Declaration System and Advanced Passenger Information System at major airports of the country. Moreover, forensic audit in Sugar, Tobacco and Steel Industries to address leakages and tax evasion was also being carried out along with the implementation of Tobacco Track and Trace System

Realizing the significance of Information Technology in the field of revenue, Virtual One Stop Shop (VOSS) auto Issuance of NTN, introduction of Alternate Delivery Channel (ADC) for payment of tax through internet banking and automated teller machine (ATM). It had also introduced FBR Maloomat which provides the asset information available with FBR to potential taxpayers and also a mobile application (Tax Asaan) was also launched.

The new website of FBR has been launched in the month of April, 2019 where the work on Urdu version of the official website is in progress. “Success of the new website can be gauged from the fact that, in a short period of time FBR’s website is now ranked in top 25 websites in Pakistan according to Alexa & SimilarWeb ranking system,” it added.

Performance Management Delivery Unit (PMDU) of FBR progress mentioned that out of total 12,322 complaints received by FBR, 8,435 had been resolved and 3,494 complaints were new complaints and 425 complaints were in-process. The citizen satisfaction percentage was 53 percent, the report noted.