World Bank asks CBR to conduct tax reforms analysis

The World Bank (WB) has asked the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) to conduct in-depth analysis of the Tax Administration Reform Project (TARP), particularly the performance of Large Taxpayer Units (LTUs), to ascertain the impact of tax reforms in Pakistan.
Sources told Business Recorder on Friday that a WB mid-term review mission would visit the CBR from August 20 to review the implementation of TARP. This would be a major exercise to review the usefulness of all WB-funded projects initiated by the CBR. Senior Financial Sector Specialist of WB and task team leader, TARP, Shamsuddin Ahmed, has informed the CBR that a review mission is coming to Pakistan for two weeks for carrying out mid-term review of the TARP, which will provide an opportunity to restructure as well as upgrade the project.
According to WB, the CBR needs a thorough analysis of the progress to date, identify areas of delay and prepare alternative proposals for utilisation of funds. The revised procurement plan and disbursement estimates would help the CBR to utilise the surplus funding. In this regard, the CBR can propose new activities within the overall framework of the project.
Sources said that the CBR has asked Hugo Hanisch, program manager of TARP, to visit the LTUs and medium taxpayer units (MTUs) and suggest improvement in their performance in line with best international practices. Based on the exercise, the proposals would be submitted to the WB for consideration.
As it would be an extraordinary exercise, the CBR will finalise necessary paperwork under the supervision of the program manager. A team of tax officials, headed by Hugo, would review all reform projects to submit a report to the WB mid-term review mission, sources said. It is important to mention here that the foreign consultant/program manager, TARP, had submitted a compendium on reforms to the Board a few months back. Most of CBR Members were not satisfied with the report. They opined that most of the suggestions could not be implemented in the existing business environment of Pakistan and it seemed that as if the suggestions had been downloaded from internet.
Interestingly, the CBR has not yet given any serious thought to these technical proposals submitted by the program manager.