ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is analyzing the proposals moved by the Tax Reforms Commission (TRC) with an approach whether the whole or partial package of recommendations can be adopted.
According to Member Strategic Planning Reforms and Statistics Dr Muhammad Iqbal, an implementation committee has been formed under Special Advisor to Prime Minister on Revenue Haroon Akhtar Khan.
According to him, TRC’s recommendations are being scrutinized one by one with a view whether their implementation will be beneficial in increasing the revenue collection or situation may be the otherwise.
Meanwhile, sources told Customs Today that in the last meeting, the committee held a detailed discussion and reviewed a crucial part of the recommendations.
There was a proposal that the FBR should devise measures to enhance penalties on the tax evaders. The rationalization of differential withholding taxes for compliant and non-compliant taxpayers and the mechanism to identify the non-compliant has to be developed.
In this regard, main focus was on the reformation of the entire tax collection system to stop the tax dodgers from going underground and strengthen tax administration to increase potential of discovering non-compliant tax payers by field survey, better data-mining and analytics.
Moreover, all income irrespective of source has to be tapped and taxed. In this regard need for declaration of assets including bank accounts held by resident Pakistanis out of Pakistan and undisclosed income outside Pakistan under a special law and regularize declared assets by payment of tax at specified rate.
In case of non-declaration of assets outside Pakistan, the assets of equivalent value in Pakistan should be forfeited under the provisions of the law along with other severe penalties.
For the promotion of tax culture including informal economy has to be the main target, discourage cash and all bearer instruments, promote use of Banks as well as encouragement of the documentation of economic activities must be main focus.
