FBR’s IRS Reform Plan launched: Taxpayers to get complete history, summary and snapshots

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will provide complete history, summary and snapshots to taxpayers in a timely manner through accessible IT-based solutions.

The FBR’s Inland Revenue Strategic Reform Plan (2021-25), launched on Wednesday, revealed that the FBR will provide a summary of the taxpayer history based on up-to-date information about tax liabilities; payments; outstanding amounts; claims and claims status; amounts due, but not payable due to legal injunctions; amounts in dispute notices due for compliance. In addition, the status of audit proceedings; the status of taxpayers’ applications; requests; and other correspondence with the department will be recorded and form part of this history.

Moreover, an integrated IRIS will be completed and implemented. The integrated IRIS will incorporate all the sales tax processes and it will replace the silo of sales tax software.

The integrated IRIS will automate all the business processes for sales tax.

The report said that the FBR’s data centers will be upgraded to the latest, state-of-the-art infrastructure to enhance the processing capacity, storage, efficiency, security, and integrity of the FBR’s applications and critical data. Reliable connectivity and the ability to handle peak time’s traffic will be ensured.

Data analytics and Business Intelligence (BI) software will be commissioned, and reliable connectivity will be addressed as a precedent.

Optimal alignment of processes and automation, keeping in view the objectives of IRS and tax administration requirements, will be achieved through periodic reviews, active learning, and continuous adaptation for ensuring that the systems are internally connected. Implementation will be an ongoing consequence of the redesigning of the business processes.

The entire process of collection and depositing of tax by withholding agents will be fully automated. Information will be trackable and cross-verifiable, thereby improving the monitoring of the withholding tax collection. A multipronged approach will be adopted to address the needs of the various types of the withholding agents, the FBR added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022