Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin has urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) staff to strictly adhere to timelines and benchmarks and follow up the whole exercise for broadening the tax base.
He was presiding over a steering committee meeting on Monday held to review progress on broadening of tax base and integration of retailers into Point of Sales (POS) system by FBR.
FBR Member (IT) briefed the participants on operational Terms of Reference (TORs) for integration of retailers into the POS system. The TORs have been formulated in consultation with key stakeholders, including representatives from the private sector, to have a proper system of checks and balances in place, the member added.
While reviewing the progress of the Steering Committee, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin stated that a limited tax base is one of the key challenges and the government is firmly committed to expand the tax base to enhance revenues exponentially. He commended the efforts made by the members of the steering committee for their hard work.
The finance minister stated that the government has incentivised the retailers by giving tax credit on electronic cash registers during the budget 2021-22. The underlying rationale is to give incentives to the taxpayers in order to broaden the tax base and at the same time, reiterated to take stern action against tax evaders who are not willing to be part of the tax net.
In his concluding remarks, Shaukat urged FBR to take pragmatic steps to broaden the tax base. The way forward requires use of new technologies, analytical tools, and end-to-end automation to broaden the tax base by integrating all the chains/outlets into the MIS system by FBR, he added.
The minister further directed to gather data by undertaking interim measures such as the “Mystery Shopping” exercise to identify anomalies as well as adding new entrants into the system to yield efficient results.
