The Caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar has summoned a special meeting of the Federal Cabinet on much much-awaited restructuring of the Federal Board of Revenue.
Sources told ProPakistani that the meeting of the Federal Cabinet will be held on Tuesday (Tomorrow) in Islamabad with agenda item (Restructuring of FBR).
The Secretary Revenue/ Chairman FBR forwarded the summary regarding the restructuring of FBR after the conclusion of the consultation between the top management of FBR and Special Investment Facilitation Council and Caretaker Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar in FBR on Saturday.
It is pertinent to mention here that the SIFC had approved the separation of Inland Revenue and Pakistan Customs, the two arms of FBR on 3rd Jan 2024. In addition, both departments including the Inland Revenue Service and Pakistan Custom Service will be regulated through their Boards.
Furthermore, another two separate oversight boards shall monitor the working of IRS and Customs. Sources told this scribe that income tax officers have raised objections about private members including tax practitioners and chartered accounts on the proposed FBR Oversight Boards, which they considered as a conflict of interest.
The tax officials on Friday raised questions about whether the private boards in PIA and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) have improved the performance of these key organizations. How the private members would improve the performance of the FBR due to conflict of interest.
The private members would watch the vested interest of the taxpayers and not the government revenue and FBR.
Senior tax officials also quoted examples of conflict of interest that the sales tax rate on point of sales (POS) transactions was reduced to 10 percent on the recommendation of a leading textile owner, which resulted in refunds to the tune of billions.
On the request of the banking sector, the rates of withholding tax on banking transactions were withdrawn in the past after approval from a private sector Finance Minister. The measure caused a Rs. 45 billion revenue loss and hampered the documentation drive of the FBR.
The Finance Minister on Friday reportedly conveyed to the FBR top officials that the reforms in the FBR are compulsory and have to be implemented at any cost. The government would not tolerate any kind of resistance to the tax reforms which have to be implemented at any cost.
