Tarp audit begins

The Auditor General of Pakistan (AG) has started audit of Tax Administration Reform Programme (TARP) of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for FY08. Sources told Business Recorder on Saturday that a team of the AG office is under the process of conducting audit of the expenditure and procurement done under the Tarp project of on-going reforms in the tax administration.
The audit would cover all areas patricianly payments made on consultancy services; procurements and other major areas of the tax reforms. According to the sources, audit team has also asked the FBR to provide necessary record on the vehicles purchased from the Tarp funding. In this regard, all kinds of records would be provided to the external auditors.
Presently, the audit team is checking records within the premises of FBR House. The FBR Tax Policy and Reforms Wing and Project section have provided necessary data to the audit team. This is for the first time that an external organisation is conducting audit of the spending made on various reform projects of the FBR.
AG office has already started audit of revenue receipts and accounts of the FBR including its field formations for fiscal year (2007-2008). The AG office would carry out audit of revenue receipts of Large Taxpayer Units (LTUs) and Regional Tax Offices (RTOs) from next month.
The AG has been empowered to conduct audit of the government departments under Article 169 and 171 of the Constitution of Pakistan and AG rules and regulations. The AG has the mandate to verify records and other receipts of the government departments under these articles of the Constitution.
Secondly, section 14 of the Auditor General Ordinance has also empowered the AG to demand record from the FBR. Tax authorities should provide necessary information and data for carrying out smooth audit of the FBR and its field formations. The board had empowered sales tax officials to conduct audit of tax records of registered persons in cases where Auditor-General of Pakistan had completed audit within the same year.
The FBR had amended section 25 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 through Finance Act 2008 to give legal backing to the audit of Directorate General of Revenue Receipt Audit (DRRA), a subsidiary of the AG office.