The World Bank (WB) mid-term review mission will visit Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) and Regional Tax Office (RTO) Karachi on Friday. Sources said on Thursday that the review mission would discuss reform process in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) with LTU officials in first half and then later half they will visit RTO.
Sources said that the WB mission had arrived to assess the status of the Tax Administration Reform Programme (TARP) and to prepare revised procurement/ disbursement plans and new project implementation strategy.
They said that the mission was reviewing FBR restructuring and its human resource management. The primary objective of the mid-term review mission is to restructure the entire project for removing the TARP from problems, sources added.
The mission is also reviewing progress on all areas covered under the project and will reassess project objectives, evaluate implementation performance, financing requirements and finalise necessary changes in the project.
The WB has observed after the meetings in Islamabad that the FBR had made expenditures only on procurement of vehicles, civil works, consultants and a few computers. The mission had submitted a list of key areas for FBR for changes in the TARP. Sources said that the WB and Department for International Development (DFID) team has decided to closely work with FBR members for restructuring the project within the next two weeks.
By the end of the review, the WB/DFID will have an agreed time-bound restructuring plan, revised procurement/disbursement plans and revised project implementation plan. This would also change the existing status of the TARP under WB guidelines.
During the current review, the WB has asked the FBR to expedite evaluation of Integrated Tax Management System (ITMS) and award of contract for the ITMS.
The board should prepare request for proposal (RFP) for setting up of data warehouse and constitute a steering committee to monitor the IT process, the WB observed. The WB has also observed that FBR should roll out automated customs processing system with or without TARP funds financing available under the project. The board has agreed to appoint an Information Technology advisor for monitoring of IT procurement.
Other key actions to be taken by the FBR included implementation of human resource rationalisation plan, continue building audit capacity, strengthen change management activates, integrate sales tax and income tax services and strength project management team and appoint a full time project director.
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