ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of IT and Telecommunication would fully assist the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in achieving the task of broadening the tax base through data integration and automation.
The decision was taken on Thursday during the meeting with the FBR to discuss the acceleration of the automation of the FBR operations.
Caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar, while chairing a meeting to deliberate measures to digitize the national economy, underlined the need for leveraging technology to increase and strengthen revenue collection mechanisms and promote economic growth after being briefed about the automation of the FBR function.
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The FBR chairman briefed the minister about measures being taken to automate and strengthen the revenue collection mechanism of the FBR.
During the meeting, the caretaker finance minister emphasised utilising modern technology to digitise the national economy to maximise revenue collection. The minister said that enhancing tax collection through technology and increasing the tax-to-GDP ratio was the top-most priority of the caretaker government.
She asked the FBR to work on a war footing to address the issue of the tax gap and use all available resources for this goal. Akhtar reiterated the government’s dedication to modernising its fiscal systems to align with international best practices.
She stressed the need for leveraging technology to strengthen the nation’s revenue collection mechanisms and promote economic growth. She further asserted that automation is not just a choice but a necessity to ensure transparency, accountability, and ease of doing business in Pakistan.
The minister for IT deliberated upon the availability of data with provincial and other state-owned enterprises.
It was decided that FBR would immediately obtain available data from other entities and leverage it to identify tax gaps and focus on potential taxpayers, who are still evading the tax net. It was decided that the FBR and the Ministry of IT would cooperate and make all-out efforts to digitise national data and expand the tax net.
The meeting concluded with the commitment from all the participatory bodies to make dedicated efforts towards this end in order to enhance fiscal governance and boost revenue collection.
Caretaker Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunications Dr Umar Saif was present in the meeting which was also attended by Chairman FBR Malik Amjed Zubair Tiwana, Members of the Board and senior officials from the Ministry of Finance, the IT Division, and the Revenue Division.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023