For the first month of the fiscal year, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) exceeded the revenue target by Rs4 billion over the projected target of Rs434 billion.

The FBR said in an official announcement that net revenue collections reached Rs438bn for July, an increase of 16.6pc over last year’s corresponding month.

During the month under review, the FBR paid Rs49 billion in refunds. The current month’s direct taxes have continued to grow at a remarkable 30 percent.

For the remainder of the year, the FBR team is optimistic about this growth pattern.

Through June 27, the government had collected Rs7.118 trillion as opposed to the Rs7.640 trillion projected for the entire FY23. According to a senior tax official, we will generate more revenue in the next three days despite Eid holidays.

In a bid to overcome the shortfalls recorded in the previous months, the government has revised the FBR’s collection target to Rs7.2tr from Rs7.640tr in the budget.

It will now be easy to meet the revised target, according to the official. “We have also shared the revised figure with the IMF,” the official said, adding all projections for next fiscal year have been based on the revised figures.

Ishaq Dar also tweeted that the FBR has achieved a record revenue collection. According to the tax official, the FBR will receive tax from online transactions and domestic sales taxes within the next three days.

As compared to FY23, the government has projected Rs9.415tr in revenue collection for FY24, an increase of Rs2.219tr or 30% over FY23.

As of now, Rs948bn has been allocated for new tax measures for the next fiscal year. Besides all taxes worth Rs500bn introduced in a mini-budget in mid-February, the revenue measures announced in the budget speech totaled Rs223bn. Another Rs215bn in new taxes were imposed at the end of the June 24 budget speech.

Based on projected economic growth of 3.5pc, inflation of 21pc, and some revenue measures, the government hopes to achieve a 30pc higher revenue target for the next fiscal year. As a result of GDP growth and inflation, autonomous revenue growth is projected at Rs1.76 trillion in 2023-24.

The tax authorities failed to meet their collection target in the outgoing fiscal year despite all revenue measures, including the mini-budget in February. In spite of several revenue measures, the FBR’s performance remains below expectations.