ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Friday shared tax-wise data of revenue collection with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the first quarter (July-September) of 2023-24.

Sources told Business Recorder that the FBR held technical-level discussions with the IMF staff-level mission led by its Mission Chief on Friday. The FBR team headed by FBR Chairman Amjad Zubair Tiwana briefed the IMF team on tax-wise revenue collection position, withdrawal of tax exemptions, tax reforms and broadening the tax base.

FBR Members of Inland Revenue and Customs (Policy) and FBR Members of Customs and IR (Operations) attended the meeting.

FBR receives over 2.9m income tax returns

According to sources, the FBR informed the IMF staff mission about the current position of income tax, sales tax, customs duty and Federal Excise Duty (FED) during the first quarter (July-September) of 2023-24. The collection of sales tax and customs duty at the import stage was also discussed during the meeting.

The FBR is also working on a strategy to improve domestic compliance/ enforcement and reduce gaps to compensate for expected revenue shortfall in tax collection from the import stage in the coming months. The FBR has informed the IMF that no amnesty scheme or new tax exemption has been granted during the first quarter (July-September) of 2023-24.

The FBR officials also briefed that the tax machinery has provisionally collected Rs2,748 billion during the first four months (July-October) 2023-24 against assigned target of Rs. 2,682 billion, exceeding the target by Rs. 66 billion.

The FBR has collected Rs707 billion in October 2023 as compared to the target of Rs 705 billion, reflecting an increase of Rs 2 billion. The board has achieved revenue collection target for the fourth consecutive month with 43% domestic and 37% overall growth.

During the period July to October 2023, the FBR has collected Rs 2,748 billion against assigned target of Rs. 2,682 billion, thereby exceeding it by Rs. 66 billion.

The FBR has collected Rs 2,748 billion during July-October (2023-24) against Rs 2,159 billion in the same period of 2022-23, reflecting an increase of Rs 589 billion.

FBR also issued refunds amounting to Rs. 158 billion during the first four months of 203-24 as against Rs. 113 billion refunded in the corresponding period of previous year.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023