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ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman, Javed Ghani on Wednesday said that the revenue collection target for the current fiscal year was very challenging but every possible effort would be made to achieve it.

Ghani acknowledged during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance that consequent to coronavirus nothing can be said with certainty about tax collection during the first and second quarters of the current fiscal year.

The meeting of the committee presided over by Faiz Ullah was given briefing by senior officials of the FBR on refunds and revenue and Zarai Taraqiati Bank Ltd. (ZTBL) President Shahbaz Jamil on performance of the bank as well as support being provided to the farmers in challenging times.

At the start, the committee welcomed Javed Ghani, the newly-appointed chairman, FBR, and expressed the hope that he would bring about effectiveness in functioning of the department.

Hamid Attique, FBR Member-IR (Policy) informed the Committee that "the tax laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019" laid in the National Assembly in November 2019, lapsed on May 30, 2020, but its objectives were approved in the Finance Bill, 2020, and the FBR has withdrawn the said bill.

Pakistan Peoples Party member Nafisa Shah said that harsh measures had been taken in the Finance Bill for data collection, and access of the FBR to the data would create problems for companies.

She said that the government had been issuing ordinances during the entire fiscal year, and at the end makes them (ordinances) part of the Finance Bill.

Dr Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed, Member (Inland Revenue) informed the committee, while briefing on the refunds issue that the FBR on account of income tax, sales tax and customs made around Rs175 billion refunds during last fiscal year (2019-2020), and apart from this Rs 100 billion tax refunds were made under the Prime Minister package. Pakistan People's Party member of the committee and former finance minister Syed Naved Qamar asked the FBR officials to tell the committee about the total volume of refunds and since how long refunds were pending. He also inquired about the procedure of making refunds payments.

However, Ashfaq Ahmed of FBR replied that at this time, he does not have this information with him.

Upon this, Hina Rabbani Khar said that the FBR officials were not replying to the members' questions, and maintained that outstanding refunds were around Rs600 billion.

Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha said that the FBR is being alleged of making fast refunds to the rich people after taking money from them.

Dr Pasha said that the committee should be given briefing on the tax expenditure report released by the FBR

The Committee expressed its dissatisfaction on the presentation given by the Member (Inland Revenue) and directed the FBR for comprehensive briefing on Thursday.

While considering the implementation status on previous recommendations of the Committee regarding purchase of pulses (Dal Channa), the Committee decided that the managing director, Utility Stores Corporation (USC) should attend meeting personally today (Thursday).

President Zarai Taraqiati Bank Ltd (ZTBL) Shahbaz Jamil gave a briefing to the Committee about the situational analysis, and suggestions for way forward for the bank.

He said that banks operation was facing difficulties due to coronavirus, and the bank disbursed 85 personal loans to the farmers with land holding of 12.5 acre.

He added that the farmers are provided Rs500,000, Rs 1 million and Rs1.5 million loans, and the recovery rate has declined from 70 percent last year to below 50 percent this year due to coronavirus.

He added that the Finance Division has constituted an Advisory Committee comprising Shaukat Tareen, Zubair Soomro and Atif Bukhari on May 15, 2020 for restructuring of the ZTBL.

The Committee expressed its displeasure on the delay for formulation of Board of Directors of the Bank by the government, and directed the Finance Division for apprising the Committee in this respect today (Thursday).

The Committee expressed its concern over less disbursement of agriculture loans to the farmers by the ZTBL as compared to previous years.

The Committee members were of the view that the government should analyse the current situation before carrying out reforms in the bank.

The meeting was attended by Makhdoom Syed Sami-ul-Hassan Gillani, Jamil Ahmed Khan, Faheem Khan, Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, Ahsan Iqbal, Chaudhary Khalid Javed, Ali Perviz, Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha, Nafisa Shah, Syed Naveed Qamar and Hina Rabbani Khar, were available on video conference. Senior officers from M/o Finance and Revenue, Law and Justice, Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) attended the meeting and gave briefing to the committee.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020

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