In a bid to improve Pakistan's rank in the ease of doing business and simplify collection process, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has launched a single identifier number for all domestic taxes.

Under this initiative, a taxpayer can use all applications under the Income Tax, Sales Tax, and Federal Excise duty by using their CNIC if a taxpayer is an individual, said the federal tax-collecting body in a statement.

In the case of partnership firms and companies, the National Tax Number (NTN) shall be the common tax identifier number. In this manner, the Sales Tax, Income Tax, and Federal Excise laws have been harmonised.

FBR was of the view that this step would substantially improve Pakistan’s rank in the ease of doing business index.

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According to the recently released report on Investment Security of China's Belt and Road Construction (2021), Pakistan has reformed to simplify the process of starting a company and obtaining a construction permit, implementing a series of preferential policies in recent years.

These measures improved its ability to attract foreign investment and strengthened the ease of doing business year by year, making Pakistan one of the world's top 10 economies with the most improved business environment,

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Meanwhile, FBR has also launched a facility known as the Alternate Delivery Channel (ADC) payment mode, allowing taxpayers to make payments without visiting the bank.

“ADC allows taxpayer to pay all Federal taxes and duties i.e. Income Tax, Sales Tax, Customs duty and Federal Excise Duty from any commercial bank account through internet banking, ATM, mobile banking and Contact Centers,” said FBR.

However, in the case of an individual taxpayer, FBR has allowed the alternate facility of making the payment over the counter simultaneously along with ADC channel till 30th September to avoid inconvenience to the individual taxpayer for filing of returns.