FBR's system for e-verification of notices in the offing

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is launching a new online system for taxpayers to electronically verify notices, orders and exemption certificates, etc, through the verification services, enabling business community to check fake notices/exemption certificates. Sources told Business Recorder here on Tuesday that to check fake exemption certificates, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has authorized withholding agents to verify the authenticity of system generated exemption certificate to avoid revenue leakage.
Sources said the facility for online verification of exemption certificates has been launched by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). It is a major facility for accurate deduction of tax based on genuine exemption certificates. Any withholding agent can easily verify the authenticity of the exemption certificates and accordingly deduct tax. Moreover, sometimes people apply to FBR to check the authenticity of system generated exemption certificate. The process took 10-15 days for verification. Now, the new facility would enable the taxpayers to instantly verify the authenticity of the exemption certificates, they added.
According to the FBR, IT Wing has launched the facility for online verification of exemption certificates, which is available on FBR website, wef, 18-11-2017 at the following link: https://e.fbr.gov.pk/esbn/. This facility allows withholding agents as well as general public to verify the authenticity of system generated exemption certificate on the basis of bar code given on the certificate. In case of genuine exemption certificate, the screen displays the information including registration number, name, tax year, section, date of issuance and validity date of exemption certificate.
This facility would resolve the longstanding problem faced by withholding agents and put an end to the practice of using fake exemption certificates to evade genuine tax liability, the FBR said. As the next step in this exercise, IT Wing plans to provide further verification services for notices and other orders as well. The extended verification facility, which will be available within a fortnight, would combine all existing and future verification services in one place on the FBR's website and all taxpayers would be able to check the genuineness of all correspondence with the Board, the FBR added.