The Chair-man of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Salman Siddique, has said that at present there is no proposal to grant him extension beyond his retirement period from third week of January 2012. He told Business Recorder here on Wednesday that so far there is nothing on the ground about his extension as FBR Chairman.
Sources said that FBR had shown growth in collections of over 28 percent during five months (July-November) of 2011-12. As far as collection during first half of current fiscal is concerned, tax machinery has provisionally collected Rs 712 billion from July up to December 16 of 2011-12, against Rs 555 billion collected in the corresponding period of last year.
The provisional figures during the first six months of 2011-12 would be clear in the next 3-4 days as Large Taxpayer Units (LTUs) and Regional Tax Offices (RTOs) have intensified efforts to ensure maximum collection in the remaining few days of current month. The revenue collection position during July-December (2011-12) would clarify whether the FBR would be in a position to meet the annual target of Rs 1952 billion for 2011-12.
During the July-November period of 2011-12, there has been a healthy growth of 28 percent in revenue collection when compared with corresponding period of last year. The Board has collected Rs 640 billion during first five months (July-November) of 2011-12 as compared to Rs 500 billion in the corresponding period of 2010-11, showing an increase of Rs 140 billion.
Monthly revenue collection during November 2011 stood at Rs 131 billion against Rs 103 billion of November 2010, showing an improvement of Rs 28 billion. When contacted, an expert said that traditionally revenue collection targets for first half are kept on lower side and higher targets are fixed in the second half of a fiscal year.
In the past, the FBR had used the technique of ''end-loading'' which meant that the targets for second half (January-June) were higher as compared to the first half of current fiscal year. The ''end-loading'' technique does not imply that there is a massive difference in the targets between the first half and second half of a fiscal year.
Moreover, it was observed that whenever the targets were missed, the FBR simply lowered the assigned targets. In 2010-21, the FBR was compelled to revise tax collection targets thrice. During last fiscal year, the external factors also impacted negatively on tax collections including lower sales tax collections on domestic consumption due to devastating floods, and negative growth in large scale manufacturing sector, they added.
On June 30, 2011 FBR announced gross revenue collection figure of 1590 billion for 2010-2011 as compared to actual net collection of Rs 1550 billion. Later, FBR admitted the mistake and so informed the National Assembly and Senate Standing Committee on Finance. The fall guys in the end were the chief commissioners who were demoted.