ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar on Friday has appreciated the performance of Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) for collecting Rs57 billion additional taxes in the first month of the new fiscal year. To appreciate FBR, the minister took to the social media platform Twitter.

In a tweet he said, "Excellent FBR tax collection in July, Rs57 bn more than target, reflect good performance of new FBR team and a sharp bounce back of Pakistan economy due to a highly successful Covid control effort, allowing economic activities to resume, while other countries continue to struggle".

The bureau collected Rs300 billion during the first month of the current fiscal year against an assigned target of Rs243 billion for July 2020. Inland Revenue surpassed its target by Rs52 billion, whereas the Customs Wing exceeded the target by Rs5 billion.

In July 2019, net collection of Inland Revenue was Rs236 billion, a statement issued by the FBR added. This growth in tax collection has been achieved despite economic conditions caused by the Covid-19 during which the country mostly remained in a lockdown state.

The revenue trajectory also beat the adverse impact of the government's import compression policy. To redress the hardships of the business community caused by the Covid-19, an unprecedented amount of refunds worth Rs15 billion have been disbursed during July 2020, as compared to refunds of Rs7 billion during July 2019.

Sales tax refunds are being issued under centralised and automated system called "Faster", which is clearing refunds to exporters within 72 hours for the first time as committed by the government in July 2020. This has facilitated exporters and the industry, easing their liquidity crunch. The FBR is also engaging with trade and industry to mitigate their genuine grievances, the statement added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020