FBR Policy Board should look into tax collection, trade issues: Hafeez

ISLAMABAD: Adviser on Finance, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has directed that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Policy Board should look into important issues that need special attention of the government regarding tax collection and trade management.

While chairing the 3rd meeting of the FBR Policy Board, the adviser directed that the next meeting of the Board may be convened after two weeks.

Shaikh reiterated the need to broaden the tax net through the use of data, already available with the FBR, without burdening the existing taxpayers, and advised Special Assistant to PM on Revenue D. Waqar Masood Khan to formulate a proposal for liaison between the NADRA and the FBR for data analysis to fulfill the requirements of the FBR and ensure all stakeholders are on board.

At the outset, the meeting approved the minutes of the previous meeting, and then the members proceeded with the discussion on the proposed terms of reference (ToRs) of the Policy Board, prepared by the Minister for Industries and Production, Hammad Azhar, and Abdullah Yousaf, former chairman FBR.

The subcommittee presented the proposed ToRs before Policy Board for discussion.

The members of the Board gave their valuable input to fine tune the same, and after discussion, the task assigned to another sub-committee, which included Hammad Azhar and Faizullah Kamoka for designing a mechanism of data sharing between the FBR and the NADRA.

During the meeting, the chair also inquired on the progress of clearance of containers on the Torkham borders.

The chair was briefed that the situation is back to normal at the Torkham border and the trade is business as usual.

The current situation, due to the COVID-19, is no longer the cause of concern for the traders.

On the proposed ToRs, the chair, after detailed discussion with all the members of the board, gave certain guidelines to refine the proposed ToRs under the supervision of the Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Revenue Dr Waqar Masood Khan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020