ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed the Law Division to increase the number of Appellate Tribunals to 100 for speedy disposal of tax cases, involving Rs3.2 trillion, besides an increase in the number of Appellate Tribunals in Customs cases.
The prime minister issued these directives during a review meeting regarding reforms and digitisation in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) presided over by him on Thursday.
Sharif has also directed to improve the tax refund system after he was informed that Rs800billion fraud was caught in tax refunds during the last four months.
The prime minister further directed to prepare a dashboard for evaluating the performance of Tax Appellate Tribunals.
He said that no delay in payment of sales tax refunds would be tolerated and directed that an immediate strategy should be made for the return of illegal refunds made in the past regarding sales tax.
The meeting was briefed about an eight-week digitisation process being supervised by McKinsey, a consultant of international repute. The premier was informed that positive results of FBR digitisation have started to emerge.
The meeting was informed that 83,579 tax-related cases worth Rs3.2 trillion are pending in various courts and tribunals and various steps have been taken to resolve tax cases by the current government so far. The meeting was further told that during the last four months, 63 cases worth about Rs44 billion have been disposed of by various courts and4.9 million taxpayers have been identified by using modern technology. The premier directed that of these 4.9 million people, the rich and wealthy should be brought into the tax net on a priority basis and no additional burden should be placed on the poor.
The meeting was informed that from April 1, 2024, 150,000 retailers have been registered through the FBR (trader-friendly) Tajir-Friendly mobile phone application.
The prime minister directed that consultation with retailers should be continued to make this system more efficient.
He also directed to fully digitise Fraud Detection and Investigation Department of FBR and wanted to formulate a strategy for bringing all ongoing reform projects in FBR under a centralised system. He directed to hire the latest technology and best manpower regarding digitisation of FBR and assured that there would be no delay in providing funds for upgrading the customs system but the FBR should immediately come up with a strategy for software design and implementation of the new system.
The prime minister also directed to submit proposals regarding reforms in the Pakistan Revenue Automation Authority (PRAL).
The prime minister was told that the implementation of the Integrated Transit Trade Management System (ITTMS) project to start from October 2024 and under ITTMS, one window facilitation centres of international standard are being established at the Pak-Afghan borders of Torkham and Chaman.
He was further informed that preparation of the Customs Automated Entry-Exit System (AEES) has been initiated and AEES will be a state-of-the-art scanning technology based system that will be linked to web-based One Customs and Pakistan Single Window.
The meeting was informed that initially, AEES will be implemented at all four ports of Karachi, airports of Karachi, Multan and Peshawar and the prime minister directed that to also implement the AEES system in Gwadar port.
The meeting was told that for the convenience of taxpayers, a single sales tax return system is being introduced with implementation from the telecom sector. The FBR will be connected with revenue authorities across the country through a single sales tax.
The prime minister directed that a single sales tax system to be implemented for every taxpayer by October 2024. The prime minister deplored unnecessary delay in many projects of FBR regarding reforms is very unfortunate.
The meeting was attended by the Federal Ministers for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Finance and Revenue Mohammad Aurangzeb, Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar, Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar, Minister of State for Finance Ali Parvez Malik, and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Jahanzeb Khan.
Prime Minister’s Coordinator Rana Ehsan Afzal, Chairman FBR Malik Amjad Zubair Tiwana and relevant senior government officials also participated in the meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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