The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected approximately Rs 261 billion during first quarter (July-September) against the target of Rs 270 billion, depicting a shortfall of around Rs 9 billion. Sources told Business Recorder here on Monday that the FBR would collect Rs 1-2 billion more on compilation of final figures in coming days.
The date for payment of the advance income tax for the 1st quarter has been shifted from September 15 to October 15. Thus a shortfall of about Rs 25 billion has been worked out in the first quarter of July-September (2008-2009) due to this change.
The issue of improved revenue collection was also discussed before the board-in-council meeting chaired by FBR Chairman Sohail Ahmed here on Monday. The details of updated revenue collection, Inland Revenue and reform process would be disclosed here on Tuesday (today) during a press conference. It was informed that the revenue collection is likely to touch Rs 263 billion in coming days.
Sources said that the FBR has fixed a target of Rs 109 billion for the month of October 2009. Tax authorities have asked the tax managers to take appropriate measures to reach around Rs 116 billion in October. The shortfall in the first quarter of current fiscal would be compensated with the advance income tax collection by October 15, 2009.
It has been further learnt that the venue of the upcoming Value Added Tax (VAT) conference has again changed and now it would be convened at a local hotel in federal capital instead of Dubai from October 19-21. Earlier, the VAT conference was proposed to be convened at Dubai in view of security reasons.
Sources said that the FBR has taken the approval of the proposed law for creation of Inland Revenue Service from the Cabinet Division. However, the FBR may notify the new law through a Presidential Ordinance. Presently, the session of National Assembly is underway and Ordinance could not be promulgated during NA session. There is a possibility that the Inland Revenue Service law might be promulgated through an Ordinance after NA session. In such a situation, the draft of the Inland Revenue Bill would not be presented before the National Assembly for debate.
Board-in-council decided that it would not be mandatory for the new batches of income tax group and customs and excise group to immediately do MBA. Now, it has been decided that newly inducted tax officials would start MBA course after a period of 2-3 years of their service from any reputable institution. The officials would have choice to select from any of the best universities for MBA studies.
The board-in-council has expressed satisfaction over the current number of income tax returns filed for the Tax Year 2009 and amount deposited along with the returns. The Director General Withholding Taxes presented a new plan before the board-in-council for approval. The FBR has approved the plan with major focus on withholding tax collection from banks, imports and exports, income from dividends and other potential areas. The new plan was highly appreciated by the tax authorities and it would be implemented in the field formations across the country.
It is important to mention that the revenue collection target for first quarter (July-September) 2009-2010 has been fixed at Rs 270 billion, which is 19.6 percent of the annual target. In the second quarter (October-December) of current fiscal, the revenue collection target has been fixed at Rs 325 billion, which is 23.5 percent of the total projected collection in 2009-2010. The target for third quarter (January-March) 2009-2010 has been set at Rs 345 billion, showing 25 percent of the target. The highest revenue collection target of Rs 440.1 billion has been fixed for fourth quarter (April-June) ie 31.9 percent of the total projection.
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