FBR misses October’s collection target

After exceeding projections for several months, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) missed its collection target for October by 17 per cent, or Rs88 billion, owing to a sharp drop in imports, showed provisional data on Monday. The provisional revenue collection stood at Rs512bn in October as against the target of Rs600bn. This reversal of the collection trend forced Finance Minister Ishaq Dar not to mention revenue numbers in his press conference. Also, the FBR didn’t issue any official press release. However, October’s collection posted a 15pc growth when compared with last year’s Rs445bn. This growth is much below what the government had committed to the International Monetary Fund to achieve the annual collection target. The only announcement that came from Mr Dar in his brief video message was regarding an extension in the last date for the filing of income tax returns for 2022. The date was extended further until Nov 30 from Oct 31.