FBR Denounces ‘Suspicious’ Media Claims Targeting Its Image

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has taken exception to an editorial captioned “Paying Taxes” published in Daily Dawn on 10 November 2021 and termed it as malicious in intent and suspicious in content.

The said editorial has used hackneyed jargons which include, ‘sloppy tax regime’, ‘an army of tax collectors working personal financial gains’, ‘reluctant to use technology’, ‘resistance from tax collectors’, and ‘the nexus between the wealthy and tax collectors’, claiming that the FBR suffered a failure in collecting sufficient revenues.

According to clarification from FBR, all these accusations are far from facts on the ground and seem to be part of a well-orchestrated campaign aimed to malign the Board. The FBR claims that the commendable performance of FBR in the previous Financial Year 2020-21 and the first four months of current Financial Year 2021-22 has, in fact, been widely appreciated at all levels and by the Prime Minister himself on different occasions.

The FBR highlighted that it had taken different key initiatives to broaden the tax base, ensure transparency, and promote accountability within FBR, in addition to various measures taken to reform and restructure its tax system.

The FBR explained that the revenue target for FY 2020-21 had been achieved, as the FBR collected Rs. 4,745 billion against the assigned target of Rs. 4,691 billion, surpassing the target by Rs. 54 billion. It revealed that the revenue targets for the first four months of the current financial year were also surpassed by Rs. 233 billion with year-over-year growth of 37% by collecting Rs. 1,840 billion against the assigned target of Rs. 1,607 billion.

Moreover, the FBR clarified, the Income Tax Returns for the tax year 2021 crossed 2.8 million as of 1 November 2021 with tax paid with returns standing at Rs. 52 billion as against 1.8 million returns and 29.6 billion tax paid with returns on 8 December 2020, the closing date, last year.

Contrary to the claims made in the caption editorial, FBR has stated that it is vigorously introducing automation and digitization not only to increase the much-needed revenue but also to ensure transparency, efficiency, and facilitation in the tax system.

With its focus on ensuring ease of doing business, FBR says, it is all set to digitize and automate the processes involved in tax collection in order to minimize human interaction with taxpayers and thereby ensure transparency in the system.

The FBR mentioned that the recent launch of the Track and Trace System to digitally monitor important sectors was yet another milestone achieved by it. It maintained that the Point of Sales System (POS) introduced by FBR was aimed at ensuring real-time monitoring of actual sales of Tier-one retailers to plug revenue leakages and thus increase the revenue collection.

According to FBR, over 14,000 point-of-sale terminals have already been integrated with the real-time reporting system of FBR. FBR will use Artificial Intelligence and Mathematical Modelling in collaboration with NADRA to ascertain real income and thus determine actual tax liability.

Furthermore, FBR has claimed that it is all set to launch the Single Sales Tax Portal by the end of November 2021. The portal will not only be beneficial for the taxpayers in filing their single monthly Sales Tax Returns but would also be helpful for tax collectors in having a 360-degrees view of taxpayers’ business activities across the country in order to maximize revenue potential and tax compliance.

There is, says the FBR, a wide array of out-of-box solutions being designed and executed by Pakistan Customs to ensure transparency, automation of processes, and maximize ease of doing business. The recent formal launch of Pakistan Single Window (PSW) by FBR is being termed as a game-changer for the promotion of international trade with Pakistan, thus having a massive potential to increase revenue for the country.

The FBR said Authorized Economic Operator Program (AEO) had been introduced to facilitate the processing of import and export consignment of AEO companies on priority through the We-BOC system.

Similarly, the Board added, Clearance in the Sky had been introduced for the seamless processing/clearance of goods declarations of air cargo before the landing of aircraft in Pakistan.

The Federal Board of Revenue has reiterated its commitment to achieving the maximum revenue during the second quarter of the FY 2021-22, affirming that it had geared to exceed the staggering target of Rs. 5,829 billion, set for the current fiscal year.