FBR data shows over 14,000 POS terminals already integrated with real-time reporting system

ISLAMABAD: The income tax returns for Tax Year 2021 has crossed 2.8 million as on November 1, 2021 with tax paid with returns stood at Rs52 billion against 1.8 million returns and 29.6 billion tax paid with returns on December 8, 2020, the closing date, last year.

According to the data released by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) here on Friday, over 14,000 point-of-sale terminals have already been integrated with real-time reporting system of the FBR. In collaboration with the Nadra, plans are also afoot to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Mathematical Modelling (MM) in order to ascertain real income and thus, determine actual tax liability.

The commendable performance of the FBR in the previous Financial Year 2020-21 and first four months of current Financial Year 2021-22 has been widely appreciated at all levels and by the prime minister himself on more occasions than one.

The revenue target for FY 2020-21 has not only been achieved but also surpassed by Rs54 billion by collecting Rs4,745 billion against assigned target of Rs4,691 billion. Likewise, continuing the growth momentum, the revenue targets for the first four month of the current financial year has been surpassed by Rs233 billion with year-to-year growth of 37 percent by collecting Rs1,840 billion against the assigned target of Rs1,607 billion.

The FBR is vigorously introducing automation and digitisation not only to increase the much-needed revenue but also to ensure transparency, efficiency and facilitation in the tax system. With its focus on ensuring ease of doing business, the FBR is all set to digitise and automate the processes involved in tax collection in order to minimise human interaction with taxpayers and thereby, ensuring transparency in the system.

The recent launch of Track and Trace System to digitally monitor important sectors such as tobacco, fertilisers, sugar, beverages, and cement from manufacturers to the end users, is yet another milestone achieved by the FBR. Furthermore, Point of Sales System (POS) introduced by the FBR is aimed at ensuring real-time monitoring of actual sales of Tier-one retailers to plug revenue leakages and thus, increase the revenue collection, significantly.

Furthermore, the FBR is all set to launch Single Sales Tax Portal by the end of November 2021. The portal would not only be beneficial for the taxpayers in filing their single monthly Sales Tax Returns but would also be helpful for tax collectors in having a 360-degrees view of taxpayers' business activities across the country in order to maximise revenue potential and tax compliance.

By all standards, this is a giant leap forward in taxpayers' facilitation and at the same time, a significant step in harmonisation of taxes between federal and provincial governments. These are some of the key initiatives, which would broaden the tax base, ensure transparency, and promote accountability within the FBR.

Likewise, promoting the FBR's vision, there are wide array of out-of-the-box solutions being designed and executed by Pakistan Customs to ensure transparency, automation of processes and maximise ease of doing business. Recent formal launch of Pakistan Single Window (PSW) by the FBR is being termed as a game changer for promotion of international trade with Pakistan, thus, having a massive potential to increase revenue for the country.

Authorised Economic Operator Program (AEO) has been introduced to facilitate the processing of import and export consignment of the AEO companies on priority through We-BOC system.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021