ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is said to have submitted restructuring plan of PRAL (Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited) to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, sources told Business Recorder.
PRAL is a company to support the revenue automation function of the FBR. This is an in-house IT setup for improving citizen interface, digitization of Income tax and Sales Tax returns, integration of data sets with other entities particularly with Provincial Revenue Authorities. In FBR’s efforts to improve tax to GDP ratio, PRAL continues to be on the front line in data collection, compilation and processing. Based upon the overall fiscal pressures, detailed FBR transformation plan was presented to Prime Minister in a meeting dated 19th September, 2024.
According to FBR, Despite PRAL’s crucial role as the IT arm of the FBR, it could not keep itself updated with modern day’s requirements and recent technological advancements. A working group within FBR’s Taskforce on Digitization for PRAL’s Restructuring was constituted to identify gaps and detail potential improvement areas. Some of the key challenges faced by PRAL include governance, weak talent and capacity, inadequate working model and technology infrastructure.
FBR argued that there is a need to reflect a separate cost centre for PRAL under Revenue Division. Regular budgetary grants may be reflected as one-line or ERE (Employee Related Expenditure)/ Non-ERE grants. The Board of PRAL shall approve the annual budget based upon the grants/ other own source revenues of PRAL. Once the mechanism is functional, the current year budgetary allocations may also be diverted towards the new mechanism. As per Regulation 4 of Financial Management and Powers of PAO Regulations, 2021, Secretary Revenue Division shall be Principal Accounting Officer for PRAL. In addition, it is imperative to bring some changes in PPRA Rules to synchronize financial and administrative (procurement) mechanisms (case separately being moved).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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