ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Revenues, Senator Haroon Akhtar Khan has said that budget 2018-19 would be pro-poor, business-friendly and government would focus on the areas, which were not covered properly during the previous years.
Addressing a launching ceremony of payment of taxes through banks, alternative delivery channels at Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), he said that the initiative would enable the tax payers to pay their federal taxes online through mobile, ATM and through laptops.
The initiative would facilitate the tax payers and made the payment system more simple and save the time and manual documentation processing, beside increasing the tax compliance and enforcement.
He said that during last five years, FBR had achieved landmark progress in many fields and introduced several measures to boost revenue collection in the country.
He said that revenue collection witnessed about 70-75 percent growth during the period under review, adding that the collections were doubled during last five years.
Whereas, he added that the tax collections witnessed about 20 percent growth on year on year basis, as the government had introduced several measures for enhancing the collection including broadening the tax base, bringing transparency and modernizing the infrastructure.
Steps were taken to facilitate the taxpayers and bridging the trust deficit among the tax payers and tax collecting authorities and introduced universal self-assessment scheme, besides strengthening the existing laws.
Later, talking to media, he said that the outstanding amount of tax refund was recorded at Rs 150 billion and government would clear refunds of over 50 billion by the end of this fiscal year. He said that tax targets set for fiscal year 2017-18 of Rs 4,013 billion would be achieved.
He said that the government was planning to introduce tax amnesty scheme which would help collect about US$ 4 to 5 billion.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman FBR Tariq Mehmood Pasha said that the facility would increase Pakistan’s ranking in ease of doing business, adding that automation of companies registration was also initiated in collaboration with Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.
Addressing the ceremony, Governor State Bank of Pakistan Tariq Bajwa said that the initiative would help enhance the efficiencies, bring transparency and technological advancement in tax collection system.
