The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) failed to achieve its monthly and half-yearly tax collection targets for the first half of fiscal year 2025-26, official sources said on Thursday.
According to the sources, FBR faced a revenue shortfall of approximately Rs21 billion in December 2025. Total net tax collections for the month stood at Rs1,425 billion against the target of Rs1,446 billion.
For the first half of the fiscal year (July–December 2025), FBR’s cumulative net tax collections reached Rs6,169 billion, falling Rs321 billion short of the target of Rs6,490 billion. The shortfall for the first five months had been Rs315 billion, which increased further in December. Officials noted that final adjustments in December data may slightly reduce the shortfall, but the overall situation remains concerning.
The significant underperformance in the first half has made meeting the revised annual tax target of Rs13.9 trillion increasingly challenging. Earlier, following the devastating floods, FBR had successfully negotiated with the IMF to reduce the original tax target from Rs14,131 billion to Rs13.9 trillion. However, continued revenue shortfalls now put even this revised target at risk.
FBR officials said only July 2025 saw collections exceeding the target, with Rs757 billion collected against a target of Rs748 billion. In subsequent months, collections fell short each time: Rs901 billion against Rs950 billion in August, Rs1,228 billion against Rs1,325 billion in September, Rs951 billion against Rs1,026 billion in October, Rs895 billion against Rs995 billion in November, and Rs1,425 billion against Rs1,446 billion in December.
The shortfall has raised concerns about the government’s ability to meet fiscal targets for the remainder of the fiscal year, particularly in the context of ongoing economic and natural disaster-related pressures.