Pakistan misses Nov tax collection target by over PKR 200 billion

Pakistan's tax collection authority — the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) — faced an unprecedented shortfall in its tax collection for November, missing the monthly target by over PKR 200 billion.

Sources informed Nukta that by the evening of Nov 29, the FBR had collected only around PKR 768 billion against the monthly target of PKR 1,003 billion.

This includes PKR 324 billion income tax against the target of PKR 376 billion, PKR 326 billion sales tax against the target of PKR 409 billion , PKR 60 billion federal excise duty against the target of PKR 81 billion and PKR 93 billion customs duty against the target of PKR 138 billion.

This is the third month in the current fiscal year when the FBR failed to achieve its monthly tax collection target.

The FBR had collected PKR 996 billion in July against the target of PKR 985 billion, PKR 782 billion in August against the monthly target of PKR 898 billion, PKR 1106 billion in September against the target of PKR 1098 billion, and PKR 878 billion tax revenue against the tax revenue target of PKR 980 billion in October.

The overall revenue shortfall will surge to around 400 billion in five months of fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25).

The government has repeatedly stated that no mini-budget would be introduced to generate additional revenue in the second quarter of the current fiscal year.

The FBR has implemented short-term measures to reduce anticipated shortfall of over PKR 300 billion in the second quarter (October-December) of FY25. Field formations have started to issue notices to the high-net worth individuals.

In the first phase, the FBR has issued notices to 5,000 non-filers, with an estimated tax liability of PKR 7 billion.

Meanwhile, the Intelligence and Investigation - Inland Revenue wing of FBR has also been registering first information reports against individual or companies involved in fake and flying invoices.

The Pakistani government had agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it would take seven new taxation measures during FY25 in case the revenue collection falls short of the projected target by 1% during the current fiscal year.