FBR collection up yet Rs110b shy of target

As the government missed the annual tax target by a margin of Rs110 billion, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Sunday defended the income tax exemption that he gave on sale of properties by Pakistan’s all serving and retired civil and military government employees. The coalition government has given the new income tax exemption despite the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) tax-to-GDP ratio remaining at 8.8% during the just ended fiscal year. The FBR collected Rs9.305 trillion during the fiscal year 2023-24, which ended on Sunday. The FBR’s annual collection fell short of the goal by Rs110 billion, mainly due to import compression and poor sales tax collection. The FBR missed the sales tax, the custom duties and the federal excise duty (FED) collection targets. But it surpassed the income tax collection target by Rs643 billion.