Revenue body hopes to achieve tax-to-GDP ratio of 13-15pc in 5 years

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) hopes to achieve the tax-to-GDP ratio of 13-15 per cent during the next five years against the existing level of 8.0 per cent under the already initiated Tax Administration Reforms Programme (TARP), reveals the content of a letter written by the revenue body chairman to the finance secretary.

Despite Pakistanís exceedingly unfavorable macroeconomic situation, the revenue body is committed to meet the revenue collection target of Rs1,380 billion by achieving a growth of 19.3 per cent, as compared to the previous fiscal year.

FBR withdraws audit notices issued to 1,000 industrial units

KARACHI: Bowing to the pressure of the business community the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) withdrew its notifications demanding audit of more than 1,000 industrial units, a senior FBR official said on Saturday.

“The purpose of issuing the annulled notification about conducting audit of 1,076 industrial units was to unveil a paperless fraud of Rs2 billion worth of sales tax refund,” said Muhammad Zahid Khokhar, Director, Intelligence & Investigation, FBR while addressing KCCI on Saturday.

Govt to study inflationary impact of VAT: FBR chief

 ISLAMABAD: Government will conduct a study, worth Rs6.0 million, regarding the impact of Value-Added Tax (VAT) on inflation, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman said on Thursday.

“After the study we will have reliable data about its impact on inflation, revenue and further documentation of the economy,” FBR Chairman Sohail Ahmed told a news briefing convened to erase confusion on VAT.

Although the FBR chairman insisted that VAT would have no inflationary impact, one of his subordinates differed, saying that it would create a price-hike.

FBR collects Rs178.306bn withholding tax

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue has collected Rs178.306 billion by deducting withholding tax on various accounts during the first eight months (July-Feb) of 2009-10, including Rs8.3 billion on cash withdrawals from banks on transaction exceeding Rs25,000.

On prize bonds, the FBR collected Rs1.310 billion in the first eight months of the current fiscal year.

15% value added tax proposed: FBR

KARACHI: Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Sohail Ahmed has said that 15 percent value added tax has been proposed.

Talking to Geo News, he said the draft proposal in this regards has been presented to the Parliament which, after approval, will be put into effect from July 1, 2010.

FBR collects over Rs577bn revenues in first 6 months

Thursday, January 07, 2010
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue has collected revenues amounting to Rs577.337 billion during first-half of the current financial year, as against Rs553.833 billion collected during the same period of last year, showing an increase of 4.2 per cent.

The revenue collections in July-December included Rs208.594 billion as direct taxes and Rs368.743 billion as indirect taxes, Asrar Raouf, Spokesman for the FBR and Member Direct Tax policy, told APP on Wednesday.

Too early to declare lasting US recovery: Bernanke

 WASHINGTON: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Monday that it’s too soon to know whether the economic recovery will last and again pledged to hold rates at record-low levels for an ‘extended period.’
 
The Fed chief’s speech to the Economic Club of Washington made clear he thinks the economy will struggle even as it recovers from the recession. He said the economy confronts ‘formidable headwinds’ — including a weak job market, cautious consumers and tight credit.

Those forces ‘seem likely to keep the pace of expansion moderate,’ he said.