ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will extend its digital production monitoring system to the textile, beverages, steel, poultry, edible oil and ghee, and tyre sectors by December, under directions issued by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a weekly review meeting on FBR reforms held on Wednesday.
According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister Office (PMO), the meeting reviewed progress on revenue collection and institutional reforms. The tracking system, aimed at curbing tax evasion in the production sector, is already fully functional in the sugar, cement, tobacco, tiles, and fertiliser sectors.
Implementation in five additional sectors, carrying a tax potential of more than Rs700 billion, is in its final stages, while work is under way with nine more sectors to unlock a further Rs560 billion in tax potential.
The prime minister directed FBR officials to develop a scientific methodology for estimating tax potential across sectors and to work with the power sector to identify individuals and businesses engaged in informal economic activity and tax evasion, with legal action to follow against violators.
He also instructed the FBR chairman and senior officers to visit Karachi during the first week of every month to address concerns raised by the business community.
On workforce reforms, the meeting was told that newly recruited officers are being trained at leading universities under merit-based criteria, with training modules aligned to international standards and the requirements of Pakistan tax system.
A performance-based system has also been introduced within the FBR to reward high-performing officers and penalise underperformance. The prime minister directed that all appointments and transfers within the FBR be made strictly on merit.
The government has extended tax-related facilitation to export and domestic sectors and will continue doing so, the PM said, adding that the alignment between sugar sector data and FBR records confirms the tracking system is operational and delivering improved results.
