A World Bank mission is coming to Pakistan during September-October 2018 to review the progress on the implementation of the reform programme of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) under tax component of the Trust Fund for Accelerated Growth and Revenue (TAGR).
Sources told Business Recorder here on Thursday that in the context of implementing the work programme of the tax component and Recipient Executed Component (RETF) of the Trust Fund for Accelerated Growth and Revenue (TAGR), the World Bank is planning a number of visits to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) between September and October 2018. All these technical assistance missions will be led by Raul F Junquera Varela (task team leader for tax component, lead public sector specialist), Charles Blanco (task team leader for RETF, senior public-sector specialist), and Muhammad Waheed (Co-TTL for tax component and RETF, senior economist).
The mission will appraise the new government of the completed and ongoing activities, as well as discuss their priorities for fiscal year 2018-2019. These missions will focus on the following work streams: (i) Tax Policy. Support the FBR in the development of a Medium-Term Revenue Strategy (MTRS) and tax gap analysis at the federal level; (ii) Tax Audit. Support on risk-based audit and compliance program, oversee the introduction and automation of risk based audit and delivery of further training and a phase 3 on mentoring; (iii) Customs. Field work and delivery of the assistance program in risk management, post clearance audit, Customs valuation, update of the Customs Act and Customs strategic planning; (iv) human resource assessment of FBR for Inland Revenue and Customs; (v) Information and Communication Technology. Focus on monitoring the implementation of the IT strategy, corresponding action plan and monitoring the implementation of the recommendations; and (vi) Business Process Mapping (BPM). Monitoring implementation of recommendations included in the BPM report for Inland Revenue.
The tax program implementation support mission also includes follow-up activities for the upgrading of the tax administration data centers to strengthen the FBR's capacity in information technology, and building FBR's fiscal research and tax policy analysis capacity under the Recipient Executed Component (RETF) Project.
In Sindh, these missions will also focus on the following activities included in the agreed work program: For the Sindh Revenue Board (SRB), a continuation of the support for (i) the restructuring of SRB and namely the Audit Wing, (ii) training and capacity building activities in sector notes and GST audit, (iii) launching mentoring activity of real audit cases, and (iv) supporting the design of a risk based selection tool. For the Excise, Taxation, and Narcotics Control Department (ETNCD), it is expected to continue with the support in preparing Karachi urban property tax devolution plan and institutional structure /model. In Punjab, these missions will focus on the following activities included in the agreed work program: For the Finance Department (i) continuing supporting the Reforms Working Group to update and formalize the revenue mobilization strategy, and discussing implementation arrangements, and (ii) completing the review of non-tax revenues - land commercialization and mines & minerals sections. For the Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA), the team will (i) support in adapting the risk-based audit model for PRA and provide trainings on audit techniques and procedures (desk audit and field audit), and (ii) support in piloting the concept of 'populated tax returns', as part of PRA's electronic invoice monitoring system. In the Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Department (ETNCD), (i) follow-up of HR assessment by supporting in developing HR strategy and roadmap, and (iii) establishing a plan to conduct a business process mapping. For the Board of Revenue (BOR), it is expected to initiate a functional review of the organization, and (ii) complete a human resource assessment.
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