ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Tariq Bajwa will leave for Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on May 6 (Wednesday) to brief the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the broadening of tax base and tax collections made by the FBR during the current fiscal year 2014-15.
As per the details, a review meeting that started on May 1 continues between Pakistani authorities and the IMF to analyse the strategies adopted by the Pakistani government to put the economy on the track to development. The IMF authorities are also reviewing the socio-economic development of Pakistan on which the fund would decide whether to release the next tranche of loan to Pakistan. This meeting would end on May 9.
The FBR chairman would also inform the IMF about the reasons for which the department had to reduce the set target for this year. He would also brief them on the strategies to be adopted during the next fiscal year to achieve the revenue target and broadening the tax net.
It is important to mention here that the IMF has directed the FBR to increase the tax-to-GDP ratio by one percent each year, while the current situation of revenue collection shows that the FBR could not even achieve the revised revenue targets.
The FBR chairman would also share the positive impacts on revenue generation after the elimination of exemptions that were given to a specific group of businessmen, besides informing the IMF that expected results would come next year when the Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) and Smart National Identity Card (SNIC) number of every individual will be treated as the national tax number (NTN).
