ISLAMABAD: With the aim to enhance revenue collection and bring transparency in the tax machinery, the PTI government is set to launch reform plan for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
Finance Minister Asad Umar, while talking to media, said that finance ministry has moved a summary to the cabinet for introducing reforms in the FBR. The cabinet is expected to take up the summary in its next meeting, he said.
“I would describe this as the beginning of FBR reforms” he said, adding that the government intends to build on the work on the tax reform committee of the previous government, which had also been endorsed by a committee of the national assembly but never moved into implementation stage.
The move for reforms within the FBR is in line with the PTI manifesto, in which the party went so far as to commit to making it an autonomous body. Imran Khan in his first televised speech as prime minister pointed specifically at the FBR as the one government department in dire need of reform.
However, the top FBR officials are unaware of such summary sent to cabinet for approval. “We are unaware of any such summary sent to the cabinet”, an official source in the FBR said.