Report sought from FBR on fake figures

 KARACHI: Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Salman Siddique has said that the actual tax collection for the last fiscal year was not Rs1.59 trillion but actually it was Rs1.5 trillion, Geo News reported Sunday.

Talking to Geo News, he said Rs1.59 trillion shown as collection was not actually the case as Rs 40 billion out of this amount were to be disbursed as tax refund.

He said he was not informed about the amount of sales tax refund during the news conference held on June 30.

Salman Siddique said he would have the inquiry conducted against the officials after having a meeting with the Finance Minister.

During a news conference held on June 30, the FBR Chief had announced that the target of Rs1.588 trillion revenue had been achieved while tax collection amounting to Rs1.590 trillion was made. It was not clarified that this amount contained Rs40 billion as advance sales tax refund.

He maintained that tax collection target was actually missed by Rs38 billion. This raised the fiscal deficit from 5.6 percent to 5.9 percent.

Sources told Geo News that a report has been sought from FBR on mirepresentation of figures.