Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) has exceeded its revenue target for June 2023, collecting $211.17 million, which is $10.6 million or 5.3% higher than expected.
Compared to June 2022, revenue collections for June 2023 have increased by $21.09 million or 11.1%.
Overall, for the first 11 months, $2.07b in net revenue has been collected which is $565.5m or 37.6% higher than the cumulative June 2022 collections.
FRCS outgoing CEO Mark Dixon attributed the favorable collection in the revenue to the remarkable collection in the tax types such as the Withholding Tax, VAT (Value Added Tax), Capital Gains Tax (CGT), Fiscal Duty, Import Excise, Domestic Excise, Export Duty, and the Water Resource Tax.
“The positive variances signify that the recovery and growth is cutting across all sectors of the economy which has translated into increased revenue. In essence, when the economy recovers, businesses experience higher profits, individuals earn more income and consumer spending rises,” Dixon said.
The positive revenue collection for June 2023 is attributed to improvement against June 2022 in the following tax types:
• Corporate Income Tax and other Income Taxes surged by $5.2m and $5.4m respectively, showing increased business confidence and a positive revenue outlook.
• Domestic VAT recorded a growth of $7.0m revealing an increase in domestic economic activity along with the recovery of the tourism sector.
• Import VAT and fiscal duty increased by $5.2m and $2.2m, respectively. This is attributed to an increase in the volume and the value of imports.
•Domestic Excise increased by $3.1m, indicating the growing demand for excisable products for the Service sector and for export purposes.
• Airport Departure Tax increased by $2.2m. The growth is attributed to an increase in travel to Fiji.
FRCS is optimistic that the revenue projections for July 2023 will continue to be positive.
