- FBR collects Rs7,343bn against Rs7,947bn target in eight months.
- Agreement with IMF provisions Rs9,168bn target till March 31.
- Tax body needs to collect Rs1,825 billion in the ongoing month.
ISLAMABAD: With Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government looking ahead to the first International Monetary Fund (IMF) review of the loan programme, the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) is staring at a whopping Rs604 billion tax shortfall in the current fiscal year, The News reported on Saturday.
With the target of Rs9,168 billion agreed upon with the IMF for March 31, the FBR will need to collect Rs1,825 billion in March — a month marked by Ramadan, holidays, and fewer working days, especially leading up to Eid ul Fitr.
As per the details available with the publication, the FBR has fetched Rs7,343 billion in the first eight months of the current fiscal year against the set target of Rs7,947 billion, witnessing a shortfall of Rs604 billion.
Now only two options have left with the Pakistani negotiators: either to request the IMF for slashing the FBR tax collection target or use available fiscal space on account of reduced debt servicing to maintain the desired fiscal deficit within the desired limits.
The upcoming IMF talks have become crucial in the aftermath of a massive shortfall in achieving revenue collection in the first eight months of the current fiscal year.
Keeping in view this pace, it can be assumed that the revenue collection target will be missed exceeding the Rs1,000 billion mark by June-end, June 2025.
The IMF’s review mission is scheduled to arrive in Islamabad this weekend and kick-start parleys from March 3 for completion of the first review and release of $1 billion tranche under the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
Pakistan had also made a request to augment the EFF loan with an additional $1 billion under RSF to jack up the loan amount to $8 billion.
Ahead of the IMF review parleys, the FBR faced shocks for materialising a whopping revenue shortfall during the outgoing month (February 2025) as it widened to Rs136 billion.
The FBR could collect only Rs847 billion in February 2025 against the desired target of Rs983 billion, so the shortfall stood at Rs136 billion.
The FBR’s gross collection in February 2025 stood at Rs885 billion, out of which the tax machinery issued refunds of Rs37 billion, so the net collection was hovering around Rs847-848 billion.
The FBR collected Rs347 billion in the form of Income Tax, Sales Tax Rs367 billion, Customs Rs106 billion, and Rs65 billion as Federal Excise Duty (FED), in February 2025.
The revenue shortfall continues to widen further with the passage of every month as the provisional collection figure for Feb 2025 shows that the FBR has made a collection of Rs847 billion against the desired target of Rs983 billion.
Ironically, the FBR’s collection in February 2025 was lower than January 2025 when it had fetched Rs872 billion. The shortfall in the first seven months stood at Rs468 billion, so with the addition of Rs136 billion in February, the overall shortfall went up to Rs604 billion in the first eight months of the current fiscal year.
