Continuing with the monthly computer ballot for its innovative POS Prize Scheme, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) successfully organized a third successive lucky draw at FBR Headquarters in Islamabad on Tuesday.
In addition to 1007 lucky winners winning prizes worth Rs. 53 million, another ten individuals won prizes of Rs. 100,000 each, sponsored by Metro Stores Pakistan for its valued customers. This has taken the winners list to 1,017 individuals, winning prizes worth Rs. 54 million.
Addressing on the occasion, Chairman FBR/Secretary Revenue Division, Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed, reiterated that for the past few years, FBR had been vigorously pursuing its drive for digitization, transparency, and automation not only to document the economy, but also to plug revenue leakages through a transparent tax system.
He further emphasized that FBR will continue to maximize tax compliance through various innovative initiatives, including POS Prize Scheme. The annual business turnover of the retail sector in Pakistan was about Rs. 20 trillion, but only around 20 percent was visible to FBR for tax compliance. This innovative Prize Scheme was launched to digitally monitor the sales made by Tier-1 Retailers across Pakistan to ensure that tax collected from customers was safely deposited into the state exchequer, he concluded.
It is pertinent to mention that in February, about 2,60,833 invoices were verified by customers who shopped from outlets integrated with FBR POS System as against 153,000 in January 2022. Likewise, around 38 million invoices were issued by Tier-1 Retailers, which are integrated with the FBR POS System in February as compared to 37 million in January 2022, despite the relevant month being short of 3 days as compared to January.
Approximately, another 4 million verified invoices would have been added to the tally if three more days were available in February. The number of customers has also jumped from 27,000 in January to around 39,000 in February who successfully verified their invoices. This is a phenomenal increase in public participation and is likely to further grow with every passing day.
Furthermore, the FBR has already distributed prizes worth Rs. 106 million among 2014 lucky winners in two computerized ballots held in a transparent manner on 15 January and February 2022. More than half of the fortunate winners have already got the prize money transferred into their bank accounts. It is also worth sharing that people are showing a lot of interest in becoming part of this computerized draw, which is being regularly on the 15th of every month.
It is quite reassuring to share that out of around 4,200 identified as Tier-1 Retailers, over 3,600 have already integrated their business operations with FBR’s POS System. Their 17,000 outlets with over 19,500 cash counters are fully integrated with POS System.
