July-March revenue collection up 13.7 percent
RECORDER REPORT
ISLAMABAD (April 04 2008): The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected Rs 678.912 billion during first nine months (July-March) of fiscal 2007-2008 against Rs 597 billion in the corresponding period last fiscal, showing a growth of 13.7 percent.

Tax authorities are now required to collect Rs 346.36 billion in the remaining months ie April-June with an average monthly collection of Rs 115.366 billion for meeting the annual collection target of Rs 1.025 trillion.

According to the provisional revenue collection figures released on Thursday, the board has collected Rs 257.664 billion as direct taxes during July-March (2007-2008) against Rs 237.80 billion in the same period last fiscal, reflecting an increase of 8.4 percent.

Indirect taxes collection stood at Rs 421.248 billion during July-March (2007-2008) against Rs 359.197 billion in the same period last fiscal, showing an increase of 17.3 percent. Sales tax collection was Rs 257.778 billion in first nine months of 2007-2008 against Rs 218.815 billion in the same period last fiscal, showing an improvement of 17.8 percent.

Sales tax collection at the import stage was Rs 141.335 billion during this period against Rs 125.732 billion in the same period last fiscal, indicating an increase of 12.4 percent. Sales tax collection on domestic consumption was Rs 116.443 billion during first nine months of 2007-2008 against Rs 93.083 billion, showing an improvement of 25.1 percent.

Customs duty collection reached Rs 101.878 billion during July-March (2007-2008) against Rs 92.660 billion in same period of last fiscal indicating an increase of 9.9 percent. Federal Excise Duty collection including one percent special excise duty (SED) was Rs 61.592 billion in first nine months of 2007-2008 against Rs 47.721 billion in the same period last fiscal, showing a growth of 29.1 percent.

The provisional tax collection for March 2008 has recorded an overall growth of 13.1 percent. The net collection during March 2008 was Rs 92.6 billion against Rs 82 billion during March 2007. The revenue on account of direct taxes has risen modestly by 3 percent going up from Rs 38.9 billion in March 2007 to Rs 40 billion in March 2008.

The sales tax collection was Rs 29.7 billion against Rs 24.1 billion of March 2007 showing a growth of 23.4 percent. While sales tax on import stage has increased by 8.6 percent, the increase in the domestic component is 44.3 percent.

The collection of federal excise duties has increased by 26.7 percent, increasing from Rs 6 billion to Rs 7.6 billion. A healthy growth of 17.5 percent has also been recorded in the collection of customs duties where the net receipts have reached Rs 15.3 billion against Rs 13 billion of last March.

The board has paid Rs 48.005 billion as refunds and rebate during first nine months July-March of 2007-2008 against Rs 66.097 billion in the same period of last fiscal, witnessing a decline of 27.4 percent.

The board has paid income tax refund to the tune of Rs 18.296 billion during first nine months against Rs 25.682 billion in the same period last fiscal indicating a decline of 28.8 percent. Sales tax refund payments declined by 31.7 percent with total payments of Rs 20.142 billion in first nine months as compared to the refund payments of Rs 29.782 billion.

Customs duty rebates payments amounted to Rs 9.304 billion in July-March period as against the rebate payments of Rs 10.527 billion in the same period of last fiscal year indicating a decline of 11.3 percent. FED rebate amounted to Rs 27 million only in first nine months as compared to payment of Rs 106 million in the same period of last fiscal projecting a decline of 74.7 percent.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=7188...m=&supDate=

FBR misses March collection target by Rs10bn



Friday, April 04, 2008
By Mehtab Haider

ISLAMABAD: Tax authorities are facing a gigantic task to collect Rs337.1 billion during the last quarter (April-June) of the current fiscal to meet the annual tax target of Rs1,025 billion by June 30.

Alone in March 2008, the FBR missed its monthly target by Rs10 billion collecting Rs92.6 billion against actual target of Rs102.4 billion.

If the annual tax target is slashed to Rs990 billion the FBR will have to collect Rs301.1 billion during the last quarter of the current fiscal year.

In first nine months (July-March), the tax collection stood at Rs678.9 billion against Rs597 billion in the same period of the previous financial year, showing a growth of 13.7 per cent. For achieving the annual target, the FBR required over 20 per cent growth on monthly basis for achieving the desired target of Rs1,025 billion.

The sources said that any possibility for touching Rs1 trillion is now out of question and if the FBR remains able to collect Rs990 billion, it will be an achievement on the part of the tax authorities.

The FBR deliberately delayed releasing of the monthly revenue collection figures till today in order to add few billions more before making it public. But the revenue collection dip is so clear that such steps cannot hide facts, said the sources.

According to provisional revenue collection figures released by the FBR on Thursday, the July - March collection of FBR has reached Rs678.9 billion as against Rs597 billion during the corresponding period of last year showing a growth of 13.7 per cent.

With this achievement, the overall growth in collection has improved by 1.2 per cent points as July-February growth was 12.5 per cent. The tax-wise three-quarter growth is as follows: Direct Taxes 8.4 per cent, Sales Tax 17.8 per cent, Federal Excise Duties 29.1 per cent, and Customs Duties 9.9 per cent.

The provisional tax collection for March 2008 has recorded an overall growth of 13.1 per cent. The net collection during March 2008 has been Rs92.6 billion against Rs82 billion during March 2007.

The revenue on account of direct taxes has risen modestly by 3 per cent going up from Rs38.9 billion last March to Rs40 billion in March 2008. The sales tax collection has been Rs29.7 billion as against Rs24.1 billion of last March showing a growth of 23.4 per cent.

While sales tax on import stage has increased by 8.6 per cent, the increase in the domestic component is 44.3 per cent.

The collection of federal excise duties has increased by 26.7 per cent, increasing from Rs6 billion to Rs7.6 billion.

Finally, a healthy growth of 17.5 per cent has also been recorded in the collection of customs duties where the net receipts have reached Rs15.3 billion against Rs13 billion of last March.

The provisional figures of March are expected to increase further during the next few days, the FBR statement concluded.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=104726

Rs 35 billion shortfall in July-March tax collection: FBR chief
RECORDER REPORT
LAHORE (April 06 2008): Federal Board of Revenue Chairman M. Abdullah Yusuf on Saturday said there was a shortfall of Rs 35 billion during the first nine months of current financial year in revenue collection.

While talking to reporters after chairing the South Asian Federation of Accountants (Safa) conference on 'Reporting for Value', Yusuf said the tax collection target of Rs 1,025 billion is not expected to be achieved and it could squeeze to Rs 990 billion.

The conference was jointly organised by the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan in collaboration with the South Asian Federation of Accountants (Safa). The FBR is reviewing tax-to-GDP ratio by different sectors of the economy. Many of the sectors have significant share in the GDP, but their contribution to the taxes is negligible, he added.

Giving example, he said the services sector contributes 28 percent to GDP whereas its contribution to tax is only 5 percent. Similarly, the wholesalers and retailers have 16 percent shares in the GDP while its tax to GDP ratio is mere 3 percent. Likewise, transport contributes only 2 percent to taxes against its share of 12 percent to GDP, he maintained. The FBR chief stressed the need for taking effective measures to enhance tax to GDP ratio.

To a question, he hoped that the FBR reforms project would be completed by the end of 2009. Answering another question, he said the economy, because of shortfall in revenue collection and increasing petroleum prices, is under pressure and gave a briefing to the federal finance minister, in this regard.

The second day of the conference concluded with a penal discussion chaired by Safa President S.M. Shabbar Zaidi in which representatives of the Safa member bodies, including Sheikh A. Hafiz, Vice President Safa, Zahir Uddin Ahmed, President, ICMAB, Ved Kumar Jain, President, ICAI, Ratna Raj Bajracharya, President, ICAN, Sher Afgan Malik, President ICMAP, Imran Afzal, President ICAP, President, and Nishan Fernando, President, ICASL took part.

Speaking on the occasion, ICAP President Imran Afzal said the standard of accountancy education in Pakistan is at par with the world best institutions. Pakistan is facing acute shortage of accountants because majority of accounts are absorbed in the UK and the USA.

He said the listed companies present execrated profit earning to attract investment in their companies whereas on financial irregularities/mis-reporting, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan which is responsible for the corporate governance does take action against the companies' directors on account of financial irregularities or misreporting and penalises the auditors.

More than 600 participants from different forums, ministries, public practice, industry and commerce attended these technical sessions of the Conference besides a foreign delegation from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The second day of the Conference comprised three technical sessions. In Technical Session-I, Dr Jamaluddin Ahmad a representative of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh and Uttam Prakash Agarwal, vice-president, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, presented their papers on "Fair Value Accounting - A Paradigm Shift" and "Beyond the Regulatory Compliance" respectively.

In Technical Session, following a sub-theme "Strengthening the Businesses", which was chaired by Dr Shahid Amjad Chaudhry, Rector, Lahore School of Economics, Hasan A. Bilgrami, FCMA National Council Member of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan and A.N. Raman, a representative of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India presented their papers on "Risk Management - A Management Perspective" and "Effective Resource Management" respectively.

In Technical Session, following a sub-theme "Global Integration from a Regional Perspective", which was chaired by Ratna Raj Bajracharya, President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal, S. Masoud Ali Naqvi, past-President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan and Ajith S. Ratnayake, Director General, Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board presented their papers on "Accounting Profession & Practices" and "Accounting Regulations and Standards" respectively.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=7196...m=&supDate=

March revenue collection short by Rs17bn

By Mubarak Zeb Khan

ISLAMABAD, April 5: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has witnessed a shortfall of over Rs17 billion in revenue realisation in March 2008 over the same month last year raising fears of missing the annual target.

Official figures compiled by the FBR showed that in absolute term Rs92.6 billion were collected during the month under review against Rs110 billion target set for the month.

The total revenue collected during the July-March period of the current fiscal year stood at Rs678.9 billion as against the last year’s collection of Rs597 billion, indicating a growth of 13.5pc.

The FBR has not revealed the targets for the first nine months of the current fiscal year to determine the total shortfall recorded so far. However, the FBR will have to raise Rs346.1 billion revenue in the April-June period to reach the annual target of Rs1,025 billion, which is now seemed a far cry.

A tax official told Dawn that after repeated shortfall in revenue collections during the past few months, the tax burden has been shifted to the next months in order to avoid the ‘wrath’ of the new government.

This kind of arrangement has been made for the first time in the FBR history that tax targets have been revised repeatedly to portray a positive picture of the revenue generation, the official added.

The statistics showed that the payment of refund and rebate to taxpayers also declined by 13 per cent to Rs57.288 billion during July-March against Rs65.991 billion paid out during the same period last financial year.

Had the refunds and rebates were not withheld by the tax authorities the revenue realisation would have been much more behind the target.

The figures showed that payment of income tax refunds/rebate declined by 28 per cent, sales tax 31.7 per cent and customs 11.3 per cent during the first nine months of the current fiscal year over the same period last year.

The tax-wise break-up showed that income tax collection grew marginally by 8.4 per cent to Rs257.664 billion against Rs237.800 billion over the same period last year.

The sales tax collection was up by 17.3 per cent to Rs257.773 billion against Rs218.815 billion over the last year. The customs duty collection increased by 9.9 per cent to Rs101.878 billion against Rs92.660 billion over the same period last year.

And the collection of federal excise duty was up by 29.1 per cent to Rs61.592 billion against Rs47.721 billion over the same period last year.

http://www.dawn.com/2008/04/06/ebr9.htm

cant these reporters try to proof read the article once? what exactly is the real picture?
is the revenue for March down 17B from last year as this part suggest "The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has witnessed a shortfall of over Rs17 billion in revenue realisation in March 2008 over the same month last year raising fears of missing the annual target."
or is it 17B less than the target for March for this year? as this line suggests "Official figures compiled by the FBR showed that in absolute term Rs92.6 billion were collected during the month under review against Rs110 billion target set for the month."

Either these reporters are totally incompetent monkeys or there deliberately trying to put a bleaker picture of the economy.
The quality of our journalists is pathetic, sometime i wonder if these guys even finished grade 10 properly.