The Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Salman Siddique assured the Senate Standing committee on Finance that 7.5 per cent of the pending refund claims account for 90 per cent of the total amount claimed which the FBR would resolve in the next 45 days.
While briefing the committee members on last years figure fudging fiasco he said that eleven field commissioner of Federal Board of revenue (FBR) those who were allegedly responsible for incorrect revenue collection figures for FY2010/11 were demoted and also transferred from their respective areas.
Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, Chairman FBR Salman Siddique informed the committee that the inquiry about the miscalculation of tax collection figures by FBR was conducted by himself and by the Federal Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh. Putting the responsibility on RTOs Salman Siddique said that the FBR headquarters received wrong revenue data from 11 RTOs out of its 16 regional tax offices. The wrong information received from commissioners of RTOs led to the release of misleading revenue collection figure, he explained to committee. However, he claimed that FBR has achieved 98 per cent of the target and a growth of about 17.4 per cent during fiscal year 2010/11 over the previous fiscal year.
He briefed the Committee that FBR has evolved a comprehensive strategy to achieve the revenue target of Rs1952 billion for current fiscal year. The strategy involves improving tax compliance through improved monitoring and effective enforcement, equitable taxation, broadening of tax base and customs administration reforms. He claimed that FBR is on track for achieving the revenue target of Rs1952 billion for current fiscal year. FBR has target to collect Rs745 billion on account of direct taxes, Rs852 from sales taxes, Rs140 billion on account of Federal Excise Duty and Rs215 has been targeted from revenues of customs duties. During the first quarter of current fiscal year FBR has collected Rs 373.819 billion tax revenues against the set target of Rs363 billion which showed a growth of 27 per cent.
According to the figures which the Chairman FBR provided to Senate Committee, FBR has collected Rs124.6 billion on account of direct taxes which indicated 27 per cent growth over the same period last year.
He said that Rs122.189 billion were collected in terms of Direct Taxes, which registered an increase of 27.7 per cent where as Rs180.415 billion was collected under the head of sales tax including sale tax on import and sale tax on domestic.
The FED during the period under review also registered an increase of 6.7 per cent as Rs28.708 billion was collected as compared to 26.9 billion of same period last year.
Custom duty collection was recorded at Rs42.507 billion which was up by 14.4 per cent as compared to the first quarter of the last year. The custom collection during July to September 2010-11 was registered at Rs37.165 billion. During the month of September 2011 domestic taxes posted an increase of 24.6 per cent as Rs145.07 billion was collected compared to Rs116.408 billion in September 2010. Custom duties during the last month also increased by 14.2 per cent during last month of current financial year as compared to September 2010.
