Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Sohail Ahmed on Saturday informed the Chief Commissioners of Large Taxpayer Units (LTUs) and Regional Tax Offices (RTOs) that the revenue collection target for 2010-11 would be reviewed keeping in view additional generation measures for the flood victims. Sources told Business Recorder here on Saturday that the issue of revised revenue collection target was discussed during last Chief Commissioner''s conference.
The FBR Chairman said the budgetary target is under review owing to changed economic scenario due to floods with the government contemplating additional revenue measures. The FBR has already forwarded its suggestions in this regard to the Ministry of Finance.
He said the FBR will go back to the Audit Plan of previous years as, the random balloting has not only failed to produce the desired results, but also challenged in the courts. Sources said the issue of audit failure came to the light during last Chief Commissioner''s conference. The FBR Chairman informed the house that it has been decided to go back to the Audit Plan of the previous years as the experience of last year''s Third Party Audit did not yield the desired results. Moreover, the selection of cases through Random Computer Ballot has also been challenged in the court.
He advised the officers not to act as policemen; rather they should learn to be polite but firm. He expressed the hope that officers will optimise their efforts without creating an environment of harassment. The FBR Chairman stated that the government has decided to introduce reformed GST for whose successful implementation bug-free, trouble-free, taxpayer-friendly refund issuance system is indispensable. He lauded the efforts of the officers and workforce of FBR for making possible the collection of Rs 1,327.4 billion in the immediate preceding year. However, there is certainly room for improvement and more could have been done with a little more effort and innovation.
Discussing the implementation of Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST), he said that the RGST will be placed before Parliament for enactment after achieving consensus between the provinces and the Federal Government. Thereafter, the provinces will also enact their RGST Acts. However, this process is likely to be completed before December, 2010, when the IMF Board meets.
He observed that the gap between issuance of refund (RPO) and release of refund cheque is sometimes far more than the seven days stipulated time frame. The FBR will introduce a system to electronically deposit refunds into taxpayers'' bank accounts by March, 2011 and centralise, in the interim, the issuance of the cheques. The FBR will ensure that the unprocessed refund claims will be diminished in the immediate future. The stock of unprocessed refund claims is growing and creates serious distortions. Approximately 3 percent of the pending claims account for 80 percent of the total amount claimed. A major effort will be conducted to reduce the number rather than the total amount of pending cases. FBR has decided to reduce by the end of October the number of pending refunds by 50 percent.
To achieve this target, a task force has been constituted headed by Member (Enforcement & Accounting), who will be responsible for ensuring the disposal of pending refund claims. The task force will concentrate particularly on Lahore, Karachi and Faisalabad. Members of the task force will provide a daily progress report to Member (Enforcement & Accounting) who in turn will report to the Chairman, FBR, sources added.
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