By Abdul Wajid Khan ISLAMABAD, June 06 (INP-WealthPK): Maintaining the momentum of its growth trajectory, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected net revenue of Rs5,349 billion in 11 months of the current fiscal year 2021-22 and is likely to reach the annual tax target. Although the FBR had agreed to a revised target of Rs6100 billion in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it fixed the initial tax collection target at Rs5,829 billion for the current financial year. The Board has to collect Rs751 billion in June to achieve the revised target of Rs6,100 billion, while it would require Rs480 billion to achieve the initial target of Rs5,829 billion. Talking to WealthPK, economic expert and Associate Professor at Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) Dr Nasir Iqbal said in the prevailing economic circumstances, the performance of FBR in revenue collection is excellent and it is now likely to achieve the annual target but with some deviations. He said for future, the FBR should focus more on easing the tax process to increase revenue. Furthermore, the tax administration should utilise technology to identify leakages in order to further enhance tax collection, he added. He said that there was no need to increase tax rate but more efforts should be made to widen the tax net. He also proposed that the provinces should be pushed to increase tax collection on the devolved subjects under the 18^th Amendment. The Ministry of Finance in its latest monthly economic outlook report says the FBR has taken various policy and administrative measures which paid off in terms of improving tax collection during the current fiscal year.  It also expected that with the current growth momentum, the FBR would be able to achieve its target during FY2022. The ministry said, on the revenue side, tax collection currently showed a remarkable performance, posting a growth of over 28% during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year. According to the latest provisional figures released by the FBR, despite massive tax relief, net revenue of Rs5,349 billion was collected during July 2021-May 2022 of the current financial year 2021-22. This represents a growth of about 28.4% over the collection of Rs. 4,164 billion during the same period last year. The net collection for May 2022 was Rs490 billion, representing an increase of 26.8% over Rs387 billion collected in May 2021. On the other hand, gross collection increased from Rs4,389 billion during July 2020-May 2021 to Rs5,644 billion in current financial year July 2021-May 2022, showing an increase of 28.6%. Likewise, the amount of refunds disbursed during May 2022 was Rs30.4 billion, while in May 2021, the refunds disbursed were Rs21.1 billion, registering an increase of 44.3%. Similarly, refunds worth Rs295.5 billion have been disbursed during July 2021-May 2022 compared to Rs224.2 billion paid last year, showing an increase of 31.8%. The FBR said the ongoing unprecedented and constant growth trajectory in revenue collection had been achieved despite massive tax relief given by the government on various essential items. For the first time ever in the country’s history, sales tax on all petroleum products has been reduced to zero, costing the FBR Rs45 billion in May 2022. It is also worth mentioning that the FBR has introduced a number of innovative interventions both at policy and operational level with a view to maximizing revenue potential through digitization, transparency, and taxpayers' facilitation. This has not only helped ensure transparency, taxpayers’ facilitation, and ease of doing business, but also translated in a healthy and steady growth in revenue collection. Likewise, the incumbent top leadership of the FBR has launched a new culture of clean taxation with a clear focus on collecting only fair tax and not holding up refunds which are due to be paid. This has not only fast-tracked the process of bridging the trust-deficit between the FBR and taxpayers, but also ensured the much-needed cash liquidity for the business community. That’s precisely why the FBR continues to surpass its assigned revenue targets despite challenges and price stabilization measures adopted by the government. In a statement, Federal Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail has congratulated Chairman of FBR and his team for tax collection of Rs490 billion in May 2022, an increase of 27% or Rs 103billion over last year.