ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) held a meeting with World Bank (WB) and reviewed the tax reforms introduced by FBR to promote ease of doing business for medium and small-sized companies.
During the meeting the FBR officials briefed the World Bank team about the launch of e-payment of taxes through alternate delivery channels, which came into effect in March 2018.
Through alternative delivery channels, the taxpayers can now pay their taxes through ATM, internet banking or mobile banking, the meeting was informed.
The FBR team also apprised the World Bank team on the reduction of the income tax rate for small companies from 25pc in the tax year 2018 to 24pc in the tax year 2019. The income tax rate will be reduced further by 1pc every year until 2023, they added.
On the subject of audit selection of cases, the World Bank team was informed that FBR has carried out a parametric selection of cases using new business intelligence tools. “The process has significantly reduced the number of cases selected for audit.”
In Audit Policy 2017, FBR selected 7.5pc cases for audit out of the total filers. However, in Audit Policy 2018, FBR selected 2.3pc of income tax cases and 2.5pc of sales tax cases for audit.
The FBR officers also clarified the sales tax law pertaining to capital asset purchase and adjustment of input tax under section 8B of Sales Tax Act, 1990.
