ISLAMABAD: The meeting of the federal cabinet scheduled to be held on Wednesday (today) is likely to consider appointment of new Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), it is learnt.
Uncertainty prevailed at the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Headquarters as rumours kept circulating about likely change of FBR Chairman Dr Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed at the time of preparation of the federal budget 2022-23.
The FBR senior officials throughout the day tried to confirm that the government has moved a summary before the federal cabinet for changing of the chairman FBR and the likely appointment of Asim Ahmed, an IRS officer of grade 21, as the new chairman of the Board.
There were also reports that the summary has been moved to appoint the chairman FBR for 120 days. Other names in the summary included Nadeem Rizvi and Tariq Huda. It is not yet clear whether the new chairman FBR will be given charge of secretary Revenue Division or not.
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A senior FBR member told Business Recorder, that “Yes, I have heard that a summary will be tabled before the federal cabinet which is scheduled to meet under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday (today)”.
As the budget exercise has been started at the Board, existing FBR Chairman Tuesday remained fully engaged in different meetings including budget preparation exercise. Tax authorities actively participated in the meetings on new Inland Revenue Code, Directorate General of Digital Invoicing, track and trace, withholding taxes, and other meetings.
The FBR Chairman was also engaged in budget preparation meetings and a presentation for the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. On April 15, FBR Chairman held a detailed meeting on the budget proposals of income tax, sales tax and federal excise duty (FED) for 2022-23. It is learnt that Prime Minister Shehbaz will chair a meeting of the federal cabinet on Wednesday (today) which may consider a summary for the appointment of the new FBR chairman.
The prominent candidate for the top slot of FBR from the Inland Revenue Service (IRS) is Asim Ahmed. He previously held the charge as FBR Chairman from April 2021 to August 2021. He has also served as FBR Member information technology (IT).
Dr Ashfaq was elevated to the post of FBR chairman on August 24, 2021 by the previous government and replaced Asim Ahmad.
The cabinet will be briefed about the law and order situation in the country. A detailed briefing would also be given on the power sector.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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