Task Force drafts plan to modernize FBR for revenue growth

The task force on transforming the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) into a modern and digitalized organization has developed its first draft aimed at achieving sustained growth in national revenues.

As per media reports, the second meeting of the task force, chaired by State Minister for Finance and Revenue Ali Pervez Malik, was co-chaired by the Director General of Command, Control, Communication, Computers, and Intelligence Network (C4I) and FBR Chairman Rashid Mahmood Langrial.

During the meeting, working group conveners presented their recommendations to the task force. Dr Javed Ashraf from the National Data and Registration Authority (Nadra) joined the task force as its newest member.

Chairman FBR Rashid Mahmood Langrial called for optimizing FBR’s use of PRAL’s IT services by making it more efficient. He also highlighted the need to cleanse retrieved data to make it actionable. 

Asif Peer from Systems Ltd presented a plan to restructure Pakistan Revenue Automation Ltd (PRAL), focusing on enhancing its governance, talent, working model, and technology infrastructure. 

Dr Javed Ashraf of Nadra outlined strategies for retrieving and integrating data from relevant organizations to create a systematic data profile, which could be used to identify potential taxpayers. He proposed short, medium-, and long-term recommendations to meet the task force’s objectives.

Ms. Tania Aidrus discussed trade data sharing with international partners, pointing out gaps in capturing the true value and quantity of trade data within the current Web-Based One Customs (WeBOC) system and the Pakistan Single Window (PSW) platform. She presented her group’s initial findings.

Ghazi Akhtar delivered a presentation on supply chain automation and the Track & Trace System (TTS). He emphasized the need to utilize existing data to include wholesalers in the tax net and to improve TTS efficiency for effective tax collection.

Ali Pervez Malik underscored the importance of leveraging available data to identify potential taxpayers and expand the tax base. He stressed that better data integration would enhance system transparency. 

He also instructed that representatives from the ministries of foreign affairs and commerce, SECP, and the State Bank of Pakistan be invited to the next meeting.

Chairman FBR expressed confidence in FBR’s commitment to boosting revenue through data automation and other innovative solutions.