Most of the taxpayers have admitted that the Expeditious Refund System (ERS) has achieved the objective of speedy payments of sales tax refunds, says "Stakeholders Perception Survey" of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
Sources told Business Recorder here on Wednesday that a foreign company had carried out "Stakeholders Perception Survey" for the FBR to obtain viewpoints of the stakeholders including companies and other categories of taxpayers on reforms in the tax administration.
According to the survey, there is significant awareness about the Expeditious Refund System among the relevant stakeholders and a significant majority of tax authority officials and large taxpayers have the knowledge about the system. In judging the effectiveness of the Expeditious Refund System in speedier processing of refund claims, it was found that majority of respondents share the view that the system has achieved its target of quicker refund claim processing to a large extent.
There is significant awareness about centralised sales tax offices among the relevant stakeholders, especially among the tax authority officials and large taxpayers. In judging the effectiveness of the Centralised Sales Tax Offices in speedier processing of cheques for refund claims, it was found that a majority of respondents shared the view that the establishment of a centralised system had moderately achieved its target of quicker processing of refund claims. While large taxpayers and tax officials view the Centralised Sales Tax Office to be effective, tax bodies do not share a similar view. This may be due to lack of awareness among the tax body representatives about the existence of Centralised Sales Tax Offices.
The survey results said that the perception about the Regional Tax Offices (RTOs) and Model Customs Collectorates (MCCs) was not gauged in the previous survey. Survey results from the current round showed that most people are unaware about the performance of RTOs and MCCs. Tax authorities, large tax payers and medium tax payers perceive that RTOs/MCCs officials are performing their duties to a large extent. However, opinion of trade bodies indicate a lower level of performance. Most of the stakeholders, with the exception of tax authority officials, were unaware about the services provided by RTOs and MCCs, like complaint handling, help services, staff skills. Data trend reflects positive opinion of tax authorities and large tax payers about RTOs/MCCs.
Overall, the Universal Self-Assessment System has contributed in reducing the interaction between taxpayers and tax officials; it has also increased the confidence of salaried individuals to file their tax returns under Self-Assessment Scheme. The perception of stakeholders regarding the reasons for non-compliance by different categories of taxpayers is the lack of awareness about tax benefits, it said.
The survey said that from the detailed analysis of the responses related to e.FBR, it was apparent that the level of awareness about e.FBR remains high among agents & intermediaries, Legal experts, tax authority officials and Large Tax Payers. In contrast, the awareness levels about e.FBR remains low for salaried individuals, small businesses and non tax payers. Overall, a significant majority of stakeholders feel that e.FBR has facilitated tax payers to a large extent.
The findings suggest that even though the awareness levels about FBR initiative remains very high among the FBR employees, one in four tax authority officials is unaware about FBR-Portal. The statistics suggest that tax authority officials are content with FBR, and only a small number of employees hold reservation against the usefulness of the system.
The survey further said that the Taxpayers Facilitation Centres are appreciated by all the stakeholders. Indeed, FBR's initiative has provided facilities to taxpayers with friendly and hassle-free environment. Stakeholders who attended the training workshops and seminars found them quite helpful and informative. On the other hand, information, availability in TFCs and Website has also been praised by the major stakeholders. Friendliness of Helpline staff and promptness in responses to queries on emails has been found quite satisfactory. However, the overall number of respondents who believe the tax compliance requirements have been reduced has decreased from an average of 60 percent down to 25 percent. Also, a significant decrease in the satisfaction of small and medium sized companies was also noticed on the subject of the availability of the information on tax laws on FBR website. It went down to about 30 percent from a high of 80 percent. However, on a positive note, a large percent of the respondents (more than 50 percent overall) were satisfied, at least to some extent, on the achievements of Tax Administration Reform Project (TARP) objectives by Tax Payer's Facilitation Centres, the survey added.