The Federal Board of Revenue has expressed serious concern over the performance of some Chief Commissioners of Large Taxpayer Units (LTUs) and Regional Tax Offices (RTOs) in meeting the assigned targets for March 2011, as only 50 percent of the chief commissioners have met the assigned targets.
Sources told Business Recorder here on Tuesday that the issue of meeting the assigned revenue collection targets was discussed in detail at the Chief Commissioner conference convened under the chairmanship of the Salman Siddiqui. The FBR has noted with concern that around 9-10 Chief Commissioners have achieved the monthly target of revenue collection given by the Board. The remaining Chief Commissioners were unable to meet the target assigned by the FBR.
The tax authorities have directed the Chief Commissioners, who failed to achieve the monthly targets, to include the shortfall in the new target of April 2011 and achieve the accumulated target at any cost by creating genuine demands which are recoverable and ensure recovery of stuck up arrears at the level of the judicial fora. By June 30, 2011, the targets of direct and indirect taxes should be met, senior FBR officials informed the heads of the LTUs/RTOs. The Board has fixed Rs 151.2 billion revenue collection target for April 2011. Keeping in view the target of Rs 1588 billion, the FBR has to collect around Rs 576 billion in the last quarter of the current fiscal.
Sources said that the FBR will inform the Ministry of Finance about the excellent performance of certain Chief Commissioners of the LTUs/RTOs where targets have been successfully met. In this regard, FBR Member Inland Revenue Khawar Khurshid Butt will inform the Finance Minister about the progress of the Chief Commissioners and acknowledgement/appreciation would be communicated from the Finance Minister to the Chief Commissioners to those who have achieved the targets. During the conference, Chief Commissioners of LTUs of Karachi and Islamabad informed the Board that the officials have requested high courts for creation of special benches for speedy disposal of tax related cases.
The foreign consultant of the FBR on tax reforms Carlos Silvani informed the conference that the tax officials should use the IT systems of PRAL for cross matching of data and issuance of notices. In the best tax administration world wide, the bulk of notices were issued through the electronic systems and tax officials manually intercept at a large stage during this process, if required. Most of the job has been done by the IT systems without involving tax officials during the whole process. The tax officials should use IT systems for performing different assignments without involving manual interception by the tax officials, sources added. When Carlos Silvani asked the tax authorities to give feedback on the training given by the Pral to tax officials at Rawalpindi on the IT systems, tax officials expressed satisfaction over the level of training on the Integrated Tax Management System (ITMS), sources added.
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