PESHAWAR: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Dr Mohammad Irshad on Wednesday said that the new tax laws will have no effects on the existing taxpayers; it will rather increase the tax base for achieving a prosperous Pakistan.
This, he said, while addressing a gathering at a ceremony of the District Taxation Office (DTO) in District Charsadda.
Chairman Irshad said that the teaching of Chinese language has been made compulsory in all training institutes of the FBR because of the ongoing development in this part of the world after signing of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is certainly the game changer as far as development in the country is concerned.
The FBR chairman said that the DTO offices established in the light of the newly introduced reforms will be autonomous with mini-RTO office having financial and administrative powers to recruit staff.
He further said that the District Tax Officer will be in-charge of the district and will be having representation at a Tehsil level so that they could report about all the affairs regarding an overall performance of the tax collection.
He added that the DTO will have a separate office and will have the powers of rectification, which will simplify the verification system and will be an appellate authority in deciding taxpayers’ problems.
He said that the state will provide expenditure for the DTO offices and instead of the additional commissioners, they will directly report to the commissioner office.
For the resolution of tax-related problems, the commissioner will have to visit the DTO office in the first week of every month and the chief commissioner will also pay quarterly visits to these offices, he informed.
The FBR chairman said that taxpayers are a precious asset and urged the tax officers for facilitation of taxpayers to expand the tax net. While clarifying the rumours about any effects on the existing taxpayers, he made it clear that actually such reforms have been made only for increasing tax network.
He said that to deal with the present day development in the region, it has also been decided to make the Chinese language mandatory in the training institutes working under the aegis of the FBR.
Tax Bar Association (TBA) President Mushtaq Ahmad and Abdul Ali Khan, a representative of a local trading community, also addressed the ceremony and praised FBR’s efforts for introducing tax reforms and broadening tax net.
The chief commissioner, Inland Revenue (IR) Regional Tax Office (RTO), commissioners, additional commissioners, taxation officers, representatives of the Tax Bar Association and local traders attended the meeting.
Later, the FBR chairman laid the foundation stone of the District Taxation Office (DTO) Charsadda and also planted a sapling in the lawn.
