Non-filers, tax evaders: Data sharing among key stakeholders under way: McKinsey

ISLAMABAD: The global consulting firm, McKinsey & Company Tuesday informed that data sharing among key stakeholders was under way to ultimately compile a high-quality data to identify non-filers and those dodging the system to evade income tax, sales tax and customs duty.

The first meeting of the Task Force on Digitalization of Federal Board Revenue was held here on Tuesday at FBR Headquarters which was chaired by Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Ali Pervez Malik and co-chaired by DG C41, Major General Syed Ali Raza.

The meeting was also attended by Chairman FBR Rashid Mahmood Langrial, Members and other senior officers of the Board along-with Task Force members including, among others, Mr. Ghazi Akhtar from Lotte Akhtar Beverages Ltd, Asif Peer from Systems Ltd, Amir Malik, CEO PRAL, Tania Aidrus and Gohar Marwat Project Officer, NADRA, while Waqas-ul-Hasan and Fareed Zafar joined the meeting virtually.

According to the sources, a new documentation law as well as enhancement of the powers of National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) would also be considered to achieve the ultimate objective of FBR’s digitalization. The provinces would be approached by the NADRA to provide complete tax data to facilitate digitization for enhancing tax base. The NADRA would hold meetings with provinces to access their capability for providing the requisite data. The NADRA would specify categories of data to the provided by all provinces, sources added.

In his opening remarks, State Minister for Finance said that Prime Minister of Pakistan has constituted the Task Force to submit recommendations to completely digitize all the systems of FBR. ‘If the country needs to transition to a more inclusive and sustainable growth then end-to-end-digitization of FBR is imperative’, stated the State Minister. He explained that the ultimate goal of Task Force is to formulate such policy interventions which can improve efficacy of FBR to further build up revenue stream for the country.

Speaking on the occasion, DG C41 said that the end result of reform agenda of the Government is to increase tax-to-GDP ratio of the country for enhanced revenue generation. He emphasized upon focusing on implementing the various initiatives to achieve fruitful results.

Chairman FBR said that the Revenue Division is committed to maximize revenue through implementation of data automation and software solutions and impressed upon committee members to come up with practical recommendations to achieve the given task. He stressed the need for integration of systems and deployment of new systems to modernize the tax agency enabling it to achieve its future targets.

On the occasion, Ali Malik from the consulting firm McKinsey gave a comprehensive presentation on the progress that has been made towards digitization of FBR. He explained that the firm is focusing on two major areas. First is the overall digitization of FBR and the second is to identify and implement quick wins. It was further informed that data sharing among key stakeholders was underway to ultimately compile a high quality data to identify non-filers and those dodging the system to evade their taxes. It was also told that four wins in the areas of income tax, sales tax, customs duty and collections have been identified based on global experience and data available within FBR.

This was followed by a detailed discussion on Terms of References (TORs) of the Task Force which included data sharing both vertically with the provinces and horizontally across Ministries, supply chain automation, Track & Trace System through integrated system, restructuring of PRAL and trade data sharing interface with trading partners. It was agreed that there is a need to devise a robust data sharing mechanism for sharing of real time data among major stakeholders to identify the potential taxpayers for broadening of tax base. The meeting emphasized that the use of latest technological interventions and automation of FBR systems can lead towards a more formalized and documented economy for sustained economic development of the country.

The Task Force decided to co-opt members from SECP, State Bank, Ministries of Commerce and Foreign Affairs, and invite them in future meetings. Four Working Groups were also set up to further deliberate upon Terms of References assigned to each Working Group.

Gohar Ahmed Khan, Ghazi Akhtar (to be supported by Ziad Bashir) Asif Peer and Ms. Tania Aidrus (to be supported by Ghazi Akhtar) were made convenors of these Working Groups. The Working Groups will prepare draft recommendations in their respective areas and share the same in the next meeting of the Task Force to be held on August 21, 2024.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024