Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) Islamabad has made record collection of Rs 17.42 billion during 2015-16 against the assigned target of Rs 16.16 billion, reflecting an increase of Rs 1.254 billion. It is learnt that the Collectorate of Customs Islamabad has not only achieved its annual target of customs duty, sales tax and Federal Excise Duty (FED) but has surpassed with a huge margin of all federal taxes collection at import stage.
There is an extraordinary growth of 12 percent in collection of customs duty when compared with target during 2015-26. The overall taxes target was set at Rs 16.16 billion and collection amassed to Rs 17.42 Billion, with an exceptional increase of Rs 1.254 billion. This is the highest ever collected revenue by Rawalpindi/Islamabad Customs Collectorate.
Taking into account the remarkable performance, Member Customs FBR and Chief Collector North have congratulated the Collector of Customs Islamabad, Dr Arslan Subutageen and his team on their outstanding performance during 2015-16. Break-up of collection revealed that the MCC Islamabad collected Rs 6,551.95 million customs duty during 2015-16 against the assigned target of Rs 5,845.32 million, showing a phenomenal growth of 12 percent. Sales tax collection stood at Rs 7732.34 million during this period against the target of Rs 6,788.09 million, showing an increase of 14 percent. The collection of Federal Excise Duty (FED) was Rs 394.83 million against target of Rs 394.83 million, showing a growth of over 10 percent.
Sources said that the MCC Islamabad was facing an uphill task to achieve the ambitious revenue collection target for 2015-16. However, during second half of 2015-16, the revenue collection witnessed a major jump due to anti-smuggling and enforcement activities within the territorial jurisdiction of federal capital.
The target has been achieved through a well-planned strategy, recovery plan and enforcement measures by the customs officials headed by Collector MCC Islamabad. The success story disclosed that the Collectorate's persistent efforts to recover unpaid amount of duty from national flag carrier resulted in recovery of Rs 154 million from the airline. The amount of Rs 154 million was deposited by the airline which was required to be paid on the import of aircrafts in the past.
The bank guarantee which was defaulted by another airline has been encashed by the customs resulting in recovery of Rs 54 million.
The speedy clearance of imported consignments at port and airport also contributed in revenue colle4citon of the said Collectorate.
The Collectorate has been able to generate Rs 22 million from confiscated gold through anti-smuggling activities. The smuggling gold was adjudicated and sent to Pakistan Mint Lahore for legal process. After completion of all legal formalities, the amount has been deposited in the relevant head of revenue collection of the collectorate. The anti-smuggling activities played a key role in seizure of luxury vehicles and heroin and miscellaneous consignments which resulted in contribution of revenue in the national exchequer. Another important factor which contributed in surpassing the assigned targets was the speedy finalisation of pending cases at ports.
The pending consignments have been cleared on priority basis to expedite clearance process.