The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has beaten its tax collection target for the fourth consecutive month by collecting Rs2.75 trillion from July to October. In response to a lackluster reaction from the public, the FBR has decided to pursue one million non-filers of income tax returns.
While the FBR outperformed its tax collection target for July-October by Rs68 billion, it still fell short of the total returns filed in the 2022 tax year by nearly two million, which accounts for 40% of the existing filers.
Chairman of FBR, Malik Amjad Zubair Tiwana, confirmed that the deadline for filing annual income tax returns, which expired on Tuesday, would not be further extended.
It has been determined that, following the fulfillment of legal requirements, the FBR will ensure the “compulsory registration” of at least one million individuals who are obligated to file returns but have not done so.
In contrast to the Rs2.68 trillion target, the FBR provisionally collected Rs2.75 trillion in July-October, with an excess of Rs68 billion over the target. This surplus has relieved any pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a mini-budget.
The FBR achieved a remarkable 28% growth in tax collection, surpassing the previous fiscal year’s revenue by Rs591 billion. During the same period in the preceding year, revenues amounted to Rs2.16 trillion.
