FBR Likely to Miss Tax Collection Target for January

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) faces an uphill task to meet the revenue collection target for January 2025.  According to source, FBR has so far collected Rs. 800 billion against the target of Rs. 950 billion for the month. This effectively means that the tax collection department needs to collect a whopping Rs. 150 billion in the remaining period of the month.  However, FBR officials remain optimistic that they will be able to meet the revenue collection target for the current fiscal year (FY25) with tax collection expected to increase as economic activity increases in the coming months.  Sources said that introduction of a mini budget to enhance tax collection is also unlikely as FBR remains confident that coming months would prove fruitful in terms of revenue collection.  It is pertinent to mention here that FBR suffered a massive shortfall in revenue collection during the first six months of the current fiscal year. The shortfall for the period stood at Rs. 386 billion resulting in collection much less than the assigned target of Rs. 6,009 billion for this period. The government set a lofty tax collection target of Rs. 12,913 billion for FY25, a 40 percent increase from FY24.