The Customs (North region) surpassed its yearly revenue target assigned by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for FY 2018-19. According to preliminary figures released by the Customs here on Saturday, the Customs (North region) not only achieved but surpassed the targets of customs duty and other taxes before the end of current financial year. During the period 01.07.2018 to 28.06.2019, the Customs (North region) surpassed the target of Customs Duty by Rs 3,264 million (20 percent) by collecting Rs 19,345 million against the assigned target of Rs 16,081 million.
Similarly, an amount of Rs 20,123 million was collected under the head of Sales Tax against the assigned target of Rs 18,803 million which shows an increase of Rs 1,320 million (7 percent). As regards collection of all taxes, the Region collected Rs 50,770 million against the assigned target of Rs 45,278 million showing an increase of Rs 5,492 million (12 percent).The Region comprises five Model Customs Collectorates of Islamabad, Sialkot, Gilgit-Baltistan, and MCC Appraisement and Preventive, Peshawar covering the whole of KP as well as the merged districts of erstwhile FATA.
On the enforcement / anti-smuggling side, the Region also performed exceptionally well despite severe constraints of logistics and personnel to cover the vast jurisdiction of three provinces. During the month of June, 2019 (till 28.06.2019), the North Region seized huge quantity of smuggled and non-duty paid goods including vehicles, narcotics, currency and gold etc. to the tune of Rs 296 million as against goods worth Rs 280 million seized during corresponding period of the previous financial year showing an increase of 6 percent. Similarly, during the period 01.07.2018 to 28.06.19 the North Region seized goods having a total value of Rs 3,870 million. During the corresponding period of last year, goods worth Rs 4,354 million were seized.
All five Collectorates of North region contributed significantly in successfully attaining their respective revenue targets. Chief Collector Customs (North), Islamabad, Dr Asif Mahmood Jah (Sitara-e-Imtiaz) attributed this achievement to Allah's kindness besides the untiring efforts and hard work of the officers and staff of the Region under the dynamic leadership of Dr Jawwad Uwais Agha, Member Customs (Operations) who kept a strong vigilance during the year and kept issuing regular instructions for maximizing revenue efforts through goods clearance, auctions, recovery of arrears and encashment of bank guarantees etc. He also expressed confidence that the Officers and staff will maintain this efficiency and put in their best possible efforts to continue to strive for such success in future as well.
The Chief Collector Customs (North) further emphasized the officers and staff to ensure strict discipline, adopt austerity measures, honesty and unflinching enforcement of laws for the economic uplift of the country during the ongoing financial crisis faced by the country.