ISLAMABAD: The Fede­ral Board of Revenue (FBR) has officially released provisional revenue collection figures for the first six months of the fiscal year 2020-21, showing a rise of 5 per cent over the receipts of same period last year.

According to the provisional information, the FBR collected a net revenue of Rs2,204 billion, short by Rs6bn of its six-monthly target of Rs2,210.

Income tax collection for July to December stood at Rs816bn, as per the provisional data. Similarly, collection of sales tax, federal excise duty, customs duty remained at Rs915bn, Rs127bn and Rs336bn respectively. Moreover, an additional Rs10bn has been collected from book adjustment. “It is expected that revenue to be collected from book adjustment will increase in coming days,” the FBR said in a statement accompanying the data.

For the month of December only, the total collected revenue rose by 8.3pc coming in at Rs508bn, which fell short of the target of Rs520bn. “This is the highest monthly growth during July-Dec period,” claimed the FBR.

Refunds to the tune of Rs102bn have been issued compared to Rs53bn for the same period last year. “This represents an increase of 90pc in the issuance of refunds,” the FBR said.

Moreover, under the Prime Minister’s Corona Relief Package refunds of Rs42bn have also been issued during this year. “Despite excessive issuance of refunds this year, the FBR has managed to collect significantly more revenue in comparison to last year when Covid had not disrupted economic life,” the statement said.

Smuggled goods worth Rs30bn have been seized as compared to seizures of Rs22bn during the corresponding months of 2019, the FBR said.

Around 2.3 million returns were filed till Dec 31 compared to 2.17m last year. Income tax paid during filing of returns stood at Rs43.5bn compared to only Rs28bn deposited last year, according to the provisional data released by the FBR. “This shows an increased in tax deposit with returns of 55pc,” the statement said.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2021