The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has announced that all branches of banks that are open Saturday will observe normal banking hours on June 24 (Saturday).
A circular issued by the central bank said that in order to facilitate the taxpayers in payment of government duties and taxes, it has been decided on the request of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) that all those branches of banks that remain open on Saturday shall observe normal banking hours until 5:30 pm on June 24 to facilitate the collection of taxes through ADC’s Over-the-Counter (OTC) facility.
Moreover, the circular said that all banks have been advised to ensure round-the-clock 24/7 availability of their online payment facilities i.e. internet banking, Mobile Apps, ATMs, etc. to facilitate the taxpayers in online payment of government duties and taxes.
Why not they simply make the mechanism to pay tax from micro finance agents and encourage online payments from banking apps? We are still wasting resources and public time for ordinary tasks.
SBP, FBR & other stakeholders has already made a mechanism for tax collection like ATMs, iBanking, online apps, drop box, sms etc but unfortunately out of 32 million smart phone users less than almost 1% tax payers use alternative channel coz everyone wants to keep record otherwise FBR secrw them up.