ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Monday, informed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that tax policy reforms are being proposed with a comprehensive plan to register one million non-filers of income tax returns with the help of third party data and the Board’s central database.

The FBR and a technical team of the IMF, Monday, started meetings on reforms and measures to broaden the tax base.

In this regard, an introductory meeting was held at the Ministry of Finance, here on Monday. In the evening, a detailed meeting was held between the IMF technical team and the FBR chairman, the FBR Members of Customs and Inland Revenue (Reforms) and the FBR Members of Operations at the FBR Headquarters.

FBR informs IMF of its plan to register 1m non-filers

The tax authorities have informed about the tax reform measures including separation of tax policy from the FBR and other reform initiatives for expanding the tax net.

According to sources, the tax department has identified new taxpayers through the available data including mobile phones/CNICs. The department will now approach registered associations such as the tax bar associations for registration of non-filers, who are bar members.

Sources said that the FBR is planning to double tax return filers by end June 2024, which presently stand at 3.2 million.

According to the sources, the IMF technical team is expected to meet the task force on tax and FBR reforms on Tuesday (today). The task force will share proposals to increase tax revenue and recommendations to remove the loopholes in the tax system. The task force will suggest short- and long-term strategies to increase tax revenue by using modern technology.

The tax authorities have also briefed the IMF technical team on enforcement measures to increase revenue from potential areas including real estate sector and retailers.

The FBR team headed by FBR Chairman Amjad Zubair Tiwana briefed the IMF team on strategy to meet the annual revenue collection target of Rs9.4 trillion for 2023-24.

The FBR has informed the IMF that the tax machinery would meet the assigned tax collection target of Rs9.4 trillion for 2023-24. The FBR has also shared a plan that the expected shortfall, due to import compression in the coming months would be overcome through domestic taxes, especially direct taxes.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023