ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Nisar Mohammad Khan has said that the FBR has adopted a zero tolerance policy against corruption.
Addressing the participants of 104th National Management Course during their visit to the FBR House, he said, “Monopoly of the officers in business processes has been curtailed, discretionary powers are reduced and accountability has been launched at all levels in the department.”
Khan said that the FBR has achieved an impressive 19 percent revenue growth during the first nine months of the current fiscal year due to better policies and administrative measures adopted to broaden the tax base.
The visiting participants of NMC were given detailed briefings by Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, Member SPR&S/IT FBR and Nasir Masroor Ahmad, Member Customs FBR, on working, issues, challenges and strategic vision of the Inland Revenue Service and Pakistan Customs Service, respectively.
“The revenue growth is well on track this year and we are positive about achieving the revenue collection target set for the year,” the chairman said. He said that last year had been quite productive for broadening of tax base and revenue generation as the board received over one million tax returns which were about 750,000 three years ago. “We have taken several administrative and revenue measures, including lowering the cost of doing business and imposition of withholding tax on bank transactions for non-filers and initiation of dialogue with small and medium traders to improve tax compliance,” he said.
To a question, he said that a large number of Pakistanis were paying taxes on various accounts such as on mobile phones and household items falling in the GST regime. However, there were a large number of those who were earning a lot but not paying taxes commensurate to their income levels. “These are the people we are aiming to bring into the tax net through a tax system that is simple, fair and transparent,” he said.
Responding to another question about Voluntary Tax Compliance Scheme, Nisar Mohammad Khan said that the scheme was launched at the behest of traders who wanted to become part of tax net to avoid paying 0.6 percent withholding tax on their bank transactions. “Under the scheme, we have received around 8,000 tax returns while around Rs 15 billion taxes have also been contributed through the withholding tax on bank transactions during the last seven months,” he said.
