QUETTA: Member Inland Revenue (Operations) Dr Muhammad Irshad has lauded the performance of Quetta Regional Tax Office and announced monetary rewards for the officers and officials for serving in such a ‘hard’ area and assured further incentives for the officer who will serve in Balochistan in future.
The Member announced this during his visit to Quetta RTO, where he also held meetings with the representatives of Quetta Tax Bar Association and Balochistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and local media persons.
During the meeting with Quetta RTO officer, the Chief Commissioner gave a detailed presentation on performance and achievements of the RTO. The Member expressed his satisfaction over the visible turn around in performance of the RTO during the last few months and urged the officers to further raise the standards of their performance in upcoming months in order to not only achieve the assigned targets but also exceed the same. During the meeting with the officers, various issues and problems of the RTO were discussed in detail.
The Member was apprised of the allocation of expenditure budget which was very low in view of vast territorial jurisdiction of the RTO, constituting 44 per cent of total land mass of the country. He agreed that the sanctioned strength of officers as well as the allocated expenditure budget need to be enhanced especially in view of prospective revenue potential to be tapped out of CPEC.
Dr Irshad was informed about the potential of coal mining in Balochistan, as well as current collection of sales tax. He was told that by invoking the provisions of section 40B of Sales Tax Act in cases of coal mines a sizeable revenue jump of 70 per cent has been achieved through this single initiative in spite of acute shortage of manpower and logistics such as operational vehicles. The Member applauded the effort and emphasized on enlarging the scope of such in initiatives in this particular sector. When informed about the acute shortage of officials and the prospective expanding needs, the Member assured the RTO about the induction of further staff in the RTO.
During the meeting with electronic and print media persons, the Member pointed out the overall performance of the RTO. The media persons were apprised of FBR’s efforts to expand the tax base and provide maximum facilitation to the taxpayers already on tax roll.
A delegation representing Quetta Tax Bar Association also called on the Member and apprised him of the issues being faced by taxpayers in the province. Dr Irshad advised the bar members to work in close coordination with the RTO to raise tax awareness among the business community.
Member Dr Irshad also visited Quetta Chamber of Commerce and Industry on invitation of its members. The chamber representatives raised most of the issues related to tax and trade policies. The Member in his address assured the business community that their issues and proposals will be considered at FBR level and those not related to FBR would be conveyed to the concerned quarters for consideration.
