ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Monday, informed caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar that the FBR is aggressively working on a plan to control leakages in the collection of withholding taxes and documentation/digitisation of entire supply chain of retailers, wholesalers, and dealers of big sectors.
A meeting on improving the performance of the FBR was chaired by Kakar on Monday.
Sources told Business Recorder that there was a detailed discussion with the prime minister on expanding the tax net including a new fixed scheme for retailers, which they can operate with the help of a mobile phone app. The number of return filers has reached 3.1 million which will reach 4.9 million.
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After an addition of another 1.5 million return filers this year, the number would cross six million filers by the end of current fiscal year.
The prime minister was briefed regarding expanding the tax net and digitizing the tax system. Various proposals regarding the restructuring of the FBR were considered in the meeting.
The prime minister was also informed that the first meeting of the task force on tax and FBR reforms with the mandate to review tax policy measures to capture optimal tax base, correct tax gaps, and enhance economic efficiency and equity of the tax system.
One of the key terms of references (TORs) of the taskforce is to identify hurdles/bottlenecks in tax collection and suggesting concrete technology-based measures to cope with the problems.
The prime minister directed the FBR to submit a comprehensive action plan for improving the performance of FBR for expanding the tax net and digitizing the tax system.
According to the sources, the meeting also discussed the idea of creating a separate tax policy division to minimise the role of the FBR in tax policy formulation.
Speaking to the participants of the meeting, the prime minister said revenue collection is the backbone of the country’s economy. He said the use of the latest technology is inevitable for the improvement of the tax system. He further stated that many important steps have been taken in the past few days to control smuggling, but more diligent work will have to be done in this regard.
He directed that all stakeholders should be consulted regarding improving the performance of the FBR and a comprehensive action plan should be presented in this regard, in which, the suggestions of all the relevant institutions should also be included.
The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar, Advisor to Prime Minister Ahad Cheema, chairman FBR, federal secretary finance, and other officers concerned.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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