ISLAMABAD: Officials of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) officials held an important meeting with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to review the progress made on “FBR Reform Engagement with ADB” as well as issues and challenges being confronted for effective implementation here on Wednesday.
The FBR team was led by FBR Chairman Dr Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed while the ADB team was headed by United States’ Alternate Executive Director John Hurley, who was accompanied by Country Director Yong Ye, Principal Energy Specialist Asad Aleem, Executive Director Noor Ahmed, Senior Project Officer Financial Sector Sana Masood, Senior Project Officer Infrastructure Khurram Ghafoor and Senior Economist Farzana Noshab.
Member Customs Operations Syed Muhammad Tariq Huda, Member IR Operations Qaiser Iqbal, Member Reforms Ambreen Iftikhar, Chief Director Media Muhammad Asad Tahir and Project Director Pakistan Raises Revenue (PRR) Nadeem Basheer were also present in the meeting.
As per details, the progress on Integrated Transit Trade Management System (ITTMS) was shared with the ADB delegation in the meeting.
Giving specific details about Customs trade facilitation at Border Crossing Points (BCPs), the FBR team informed that facilitation of multi-agency administration and round-the-clock operationalisation and establishment of well-equipped import and export Custom Control Zones (CCZs) at BCPs have been ensured.
Regarding Customs Trade Harmonization at BCPs, it was briefed that the least possible human interface between entry and exit points has been ensured for an enhanced trade facilitation.
“Moreover, WeBOC has been integrated with Pakistan Single Window (PSW) for real time data sharing with the concerned stakeholders. The Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is also being shared with regional economies and trading partners. Speedy electronic verification of documents, clearance, weighing and scanning has expedited cross-border cargo movement under WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) for reducing cost of doing business,” the FBR chairman said.
During the meeting, the progress on Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool (TADAT) was also shared with ADB.
The visiting delegation was informed that FBR has launched the formulation of Inland Revenue Code in a bid to harmonise all inland taxation laws and maximise facilitation of taxpayers.
The meeting was told that the single Inland Revenue Code will reduce the implementation cost of FBR and reduce compliance cost for taxpayers.
The ADB team was also apprised of broader revenue mobilisation initiatives of FBR particularly in the realm of Pakistan Raises Revenue programme (PRR).
It was informed that FBR was on its way to achieve objectives of the programme for a simple and transparent tax system, effective control of taxpayers’ obligations and facilitation of compliance and institutional development for efficiency and accountability.
Moreover, the FBR chairman FBR dilated upon key initiatives of the department which includes e-monitoring (Track & Trace System), Point of Sale (POS) integration, establishment of a single sales tax portal and similar other technological initiatives.
He reaffirmed that his team had done well in the last financial year (FY21) by exceeding the assigned revenue target of Rs4,691 billion and had already collected Rs235 billion in excess of the assigned budget for the first four months (July-October) of the current fiscal (4MFY22), achieving a growth of 36.7 per cent.
He informed the delegation that for the first time ever in FBR history, the country’s premier revenue collection organisation has adopted a policy of clean revenue collection by not holding back a penny in refunds payable to taxpayers and not accepting any advances as compared to practices in the past.
The ADB team appreciated FBR’s efforts to maximise revenue potential through automation and digitisation and hoped that the tax watchdog will continue to maintain its ongoing momentum to broaden the tax base through technology and thus, collect maximum revenue for the people of Pakistan.
