No new tax measures or mini-budget for Pakistanis this year, official confirms

The Pakistan government will not announce any new tax measures or a mini-budget in fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25), a senior official confirmed on Wednesday.

Briefing the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, the Federal Board of Revenue's (FBR) most senior member Inland Revenue (Policy) Dr Hamid Ateeq Sarwar categorically stated that the government was not considering any additional taxation measures or a mini-budget.

The prime minister has only approved enforcement measures against non-filers, nil-filers or filers involved in massive under-declarations or misdeclarations in returns, he disclosed before the committee.

Sarwar disclosed that 2.5 million people have filed zero-income returns, adding that the computerized system would not allow financial transactions of zero income till the filer explained their source of income or earnings etc.

Concerns about a potential mini-budget had arisen after the FBR missed its revenue collection target for July-August by PKR 98 billion. Official sources had previously stated that under the country's agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), if the revenue collection target for FY25's first quarter was missed by over PKR 100bn, the government would introduce a mini-budget with additional tax measures.

However, speaking to the media after the briefing, the FBR official stated that the tax collection authority has finalized a strategy to meet the assigned revenue collection target for the first quarter.

The tax department will reach the target of PKR 2,652bn set for the quarter through estimated collection of nearly PKR 50bn along with the returns. In addition, the advance tax installment paid by the corporate sector and banks is also due in September.

The FBR will expand the scope of tier-1 retailers and add stand-alone stores, and gas companies would also pay the due amount of taxes during the current month, he elaborated.

Negotiations between the FBR and traders are ongoing to maximize registration under the Tajir Dost Scheme, the FBR official added.

Separately, the Standing Committee approved two bills — The Banking Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and The State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2024.