PRA surpasses revenue target

LAHORE: Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) again surpassed the upwards revised target of revenue collection for the fiscal year 2021-22 two days before the ending of the year and collected Rs 168 billion till June 28 against Rs 165.5 billion.

The Punjab government has revised the PRA revenue collection target on the basis of its performance and fixed a new upwards target of Rs 165.5 billion from initial target of Rs 155.9 billion.

According to the provisional figures available with The News, the authority expected to cross Rs 170 billion revenue collections in the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2022. Currently, the PRA has collected Rs 168 billion, which is 108 percent of the original target of Rs 155.9 billion and 101.5 percent of the revised target of Rs 165.52 billion.

Further, the PRA collected Rs 28 billion from telecom services sector, Rs 30.5 billion from withholding sector, Rs 18 billion from Banking and Insurance services, Rs 6 billion from franchise services, Rs 5.5 billion from courier services, Rs 6.2 billion from construction and contractual execution services and Rs 3.7 billion from restaurants.

The Rawalpindi commissionerate collected the highest revenue of Rs 7.8 billion with a growth of 52 percent, followed by Multan commissionerate of Rs 7.2 billion with a growth of 55 percent, Faisalabad Rs 3.7 billion, 49 percent growth, Gujranwala Rs 3.3 billion, 49 percent growth, Sargodha Rs 2.1 billion, 79 percent growth, Sahiwal Rs1.2 billion, 43 percent growth and Rahimyar Khan Rs 800 million, 20 percent growth.

According to PRA spokesperson, the Authority expects substantial revenue in the last two days of the financial year and is hoping to end the year close to Rs.170 billion. Earlier this year, the PRA became the first provincial revenue collecting agency in the country to cross the psychological barrier of Rs150 billion and the collection in June has further established it as the leading provincial revenue collecting agency in the country.

This is the third successive year in which PRA has surpassed its revenue collection target. Earlier, the Authority collected more than the assigned targets of Rs105 billion and Rs125 billion in the financial years 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively.

The PRA spokesperson more elaborated that this success has been achieved without resorting to any coercive actions such as sealing of premises, attachment of bank accounts or collection of advance payments. PRA has relied completely on collaboration with all stakeholders and emphasis on taxpayer facilitation and education. More than 200 awareness workshops were held during the financial year with more than 2,000 participants.

The PRA expects the growth trend to continue in the coming years as its management and all workforces is committed to continuing its focus on compliance without resorting to any measures that adversely affect ease of doing business.

The PRA is the only provincial tax collection agency which is working with limited contract staff. Despite the highest tax collection agency in the Province, the government yet to regularise the staff of the PRA which is working there since inception and disgruntled with this approach of the government.