World Bank team due on July 17

A World Bank mission will visit Pakistan from July 17-22 to review implementation of the Tax Administration Reforms Project (TARP).
The bank has informed the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) to complete paperwork pertaining to the establishment of regional tax offices (RTOs), national customs plan, training of tax officials for RTOs, human resource management (HRM) and progress on the procurement of Integrated Tax Management System (ITMS).
According to the bank, the short-review mission would primarily focus on four areas including ITMS and rollout plan of RTOs. Sources said the mission will meet the CBR team of tax managers including member, tax policy and reforms, Khawaja Tanveer Ahmed to review major ongoing reform projects.
The bank has already asked the CBR to improve its audit capacity and training of auditors. On the issue of ITMS, the bank had informed the board the delay in the development of ITMS was mainly due to difficulties being faced in integration of the sales tax and income tax.
Secondly, tax authorities are also facing problems in consolidating business requirements for the income and sales tax, as at present both taxes are functioning separately, sources added.