The Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday declared that the retail sector owes an additional amount of Rs. 455 billion of income tax in FY2024-25. This brings the total amount to 617 billion. 617 billion.

Breakdowns released from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) indicate that the actual growth over the prior year was the equivalent of Rs. 133 billion.

According to FBR information, the 617 billion figure of Rs. 617 billion figure is inclusive of the sum of Rs. 316 billion in quarterly advances tax payment made by traders, wholesalers and retailers. In FY24, the broad definition of the term showed an amount of Rs. 484 billion in tax payments.

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The breakdown by FBR of the Rs. 617 billion figure includes:

• Advance income tax amount: Rs. 316 billion
• Taxes on income that are affixed to the return. The amount is Rs. 28 billion
• Withholding taxes are: Rs. 216 billion
• Other taxes Other taxes. 57 billion

Of the Rs. 316 billion of advance tax, only the Rs. 237 billion was paid by retailers, and the remainder was through wholesalers (Rs. 30 billion) and traders (Rs. 49 billion).

In a discussion on FBR reforms, the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was informed that the ratio of tax to GDP increased to 1.5 percentage points during FY25, but was below that of the IMF’s 10.6 per cent goal. He instructed FBR to speed up digitisation as well as improve enforcement, and meet with the various stakeholders.

Return filers grew to 4.5 million by 2024, and will reach 7.2 million by the end of June 2025. The FBR also reported improvements to the customs clearance process with the goal of reducing the time for clearance from 52 hours to just 12 hours in three months.