ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) collected Rs 898.64 billion during the first ten months of the current fiscal year, reflecting an increase of 17.7 per cent from Rs 763.592 billion collected in the same period of last year.

The FBR now needs to collect Rs 431 billion in last two months of current fiscal year to meet the revised tax collection target of Rs 1.33 trillion for the year.

The tax collection target set at the time of budget announcement was Rs 1.25 trillion.

According to provisional figures released here on Tuesday, the FBR collected Rs 83.53 billion during April 2009 against Rs 83.66 billion in April 2008, showing a decrease of 0.2 percent. However, the tax collection during April 2009 fell short of target by Rs 14.47 billion as the target for the month was fixed at Rs 98 billion.

Break-up of the tax collection figures released by FBR on Tuesday revealed that the direct taxes collection stood at Rs 332.526 billion during July-April of current fiscal year against Rs 284.553 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal, showing an increase of 16.9 percent.

The overall collection of indirect taxes was Rs 566.114 billion against Rs 479.029 billion in the same period last fiscal, showing an increase of 18.2 percent.

Sales tax collection stood at Rs 358.920 billion during July-April (2008-2009) against Rs 293.655 billion in the same period last fiscal, showing an improvement of 22.2 percent. Sales tax collection at the import stage stood at Rs 164.245 billion during the period under review against Rs 157.963 billion, showing an increase of 4 percent. Sales tax collection on domestic consumption stood at Rs 194.675 billion during July-April (2008-2009) against Rs 135.692 billion in the corresponding period last fiscal, showing an improvement of 43.5 percent.

The collection of Federal Excise Duty (FED) was recorded at Rs 90.011 billion during first ten months of current fiscal against Rs 70.56 billion, depicting an increase of 27.6 percent. The collection of the FED at the import stage was Rs 11.75 billion during this period against Rs 11.39 billion in the same period last fiscal, showing improvement of 3.1 percent. The FED collection from domestic trade was Rs 78.261 billion against Rs 59.200 billion, reflecting an increase of 32.3 percent.

The FBR collected Rs 117.184 billion as customs duty during the first ten months of 2008-2009 against Rs 114.815 billion during the corresponding period of last fiscal, showing an improvement of 2.1 percent.

The FBR paid Rs 61.290 billion as refunds and rebates to exporters during first ten months of current fiscal against Rs 55.846 billion in the same period of last year, showing an increase of Rs 5.444 billion. The breakup of refunds/rebates showed that the FBR paid sales tax refund of Rs 21.13 billion against Rs 23.17 billion in the same period of last year, showing a decrease of 2 percent. Income tax refund stood at Rs 32.808 billion during the period under review against Rs 21.569 billion in the same period last fiscal, showing an increase of 11.23 percent.

The monthly breakup of revenue collection in April revealed that direct taxes collection stood at Rs 24.946 billion during July-April (2008-2009) against Rs 26.915 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal, showing a decrease of 7.3 percent. Indirect taxes collection stood at Rs 58.586 billion during April 2009 against Rs 56.750 billion in the same period last fiscal year, showing an increase of 3.23 percent. Sales tax collection was Rs 37.78 billion during this period against Rs 35.04 billion, reflecting an increase of 7.8 percent. The collection of federal excise duty (FED) was Rs 9.01 billion against Rs 8.77 billion, showing an increase of 2.7 percent. The collection of customs duty was Rs 11.79 billion during July-April (2008-2009) against Rs 12.93 billion in the same period of last fiscal year, showing a decrease of 8.8 percent.