The Corporate Pakistan Group (CPG) has welcomed the appointment of Syed Muhammad Shabbar Zaidi as the Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and takes pride in Zaidi being an active member of CPG.
It is pertinent to mention that Zaidi is doing this service for the nation on a pro bono/honorary basis. On the very first day of taking charge, Zaidi issued a directive against the existing practice of attaching the bank accounts of those companies which the tax authorities considered to have defaulted in tax payments, by making it conditional on giving at least one day notice to the CEO of the company and seeking prior approval of the FBR chairman. This measure has been widely acclaimed by the business community across the country and has set the direction of the way FBR will be governed under his chairmanship.
Zaidi is a chartered accountant and has had a distinguished professional career with the leading accountancy firm A. F. Ferguson & Co. (a member firm of PwC network) where he also served as the senior partner. He has been the president of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) and South Asian Federation of Accountants.
Zaidi has contributed significantly to the development of taxation and fiscal laws of Pakistan. He is a man of vision and while pursuing an active professional career he has authored several books as well as participated in various philanthropic projects.
Over the years, Zaidi has participated in many discourses on television as well as in conferences and seminars where he has clearly explained his vision for the improvement of Pakistan’s economy in general and the taxation system in particular.
He firmly believes in revamping the taxation policy and administration to bring the untaxed areas of the economy into the tax net thereby broadening the tax base. He also wants to reduce the trust deficit between the taxpayer and the tax collector by creating a culture of respect.
He has been a strong proponent of digitisation and wants the entire system of taxation to be automated with an aim to eliminate the physical interface between tax officials and taxpayers.
CPG Founder Muhammad Azfar Ahsan stated, “All members of CPG are delighted on Shabbar Zaidi’s appointment as FBR chairman. We consider him to be the perfect choice for this job and we appreciate this positive step of the government. Zaidi is a trusted and dear fellow member of the group and his views are well respected by all of us. We wish him the very best of luck in undertaking this extremely challenging assignment, and assure him of all our support throughout his two-year tenure with the hope that by its end FBR would have been completely transformed into an effective, efficient and well-respected organisation thereby resulting in improvement of Pakistan’s economy.”
CPG is a think tank which is made up of 256 members who are movers and shakers of the civil society. These comprise of corporate & business leaders, politicians, ministers, senators, members of national & provincial assemblies, governors, federal secretaries, academicians, energy experts, tech entrepreneurs, diplomats, defence personnel and media practitioners. Since its inception, CPG has made regular attempts to shape the public policy by organising discussions, presenting road maps & white papers to the government on various economic aspects as well as producing research papers on education.
