During July-December 2019: FBR's Customs Region (North) surpasses revenue target

In line with the vision of current government to maximize revenue collection through concerted efforts and business friendly approach, the Customs Region (North) of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) surpassed its revenue target for the first six months of the current financial year i.e. July to Dec, 2019 by a margin of Rs 405 million.

According to the data released by Customs here on Wednesday, the Region collected Rs 32,605 million as against the assigned target of Rs 32,200 million for all duty/taxes. The said collection also stands in excess by an impressive margin of 27% i.e. Rs 6,964 million as against the collection of Rs 25,641 million during the corresponding period of the last financial year.

Under the head of Customs Duty, the Region collected an amount of 12,044 million; Rs 719 million (6%) in excess of the assigned target of Rs 11,325 million. The collection is also in excess by an impressive margin of Rs 2,221 million against the collection made during the corresponding period of the last financial year i.e. Rs 9,823 million, thus, recording a healthy growth of 23%. Similarly, an amount of Rs 13,357 million was collected under the head of Sales Tax during the period as compared to Rs 9,861 million during the corresponding period of the last financial year which is 35% higher.

The Customs Region (North) comprises four Collectorates i.e., Model Customs Collectorates of Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, and MCC Appraisement and Preventive, Peshawar covering Islamabad/Rawalpindi, the whole of KP as well as the merged districts of erstwhile FATA. Though, all the four Collectorates of Customs Region (North) contributed significantly in successfully attaining their respective revenue and seizures targets, the performance of MCC Gilgit-Baltistan stood exceptional on the revenue collection side. The Collectorate was able to generate Rs 5,663 million against the assigned target of Rs 2,352 million (+141%) as compared to a collection of Rs 2,829 million during the corresponding period of the last financial year, thus, recording an impressive growth of 100% over the last financial year.

Chief Collector Customs (North), Islamabad, Dr Asif Mahmood Jah (Sitara-e-Imtiaz) attributed this achievement untiring efforts and hard work of all the officers and staff of the Region under the guidance of Syed Muhammad Shabbar Zaidi, Chairman FBR and Dr Jawwad Uwais Agha, Member Customs (Operations) who both maintained a strong vigilance and encouraged the staff by issuing regular instructions for maximizing revenue through goods clearance, conducting regular auctions, recovery of arrears and encashment of bank guarantees etc.

The Chief Collector also expressed confidence that all the officers and staff will maintain the same level of efficiency and put in their best possible efforts to continue such success in future as well.

He further emphasized upon the officers and staff to ensure strict discipline, adopt austerity measures, honesty and unflinching enforcement of laws for the economic uplift of the country as per vision of the government.