Challenges ahead as FBR’s top men on verge of retirement

Upcoming retirement and infighting to blame for low performance

ISLAMABAD: The government is facing tough challenges in meeting this fiscal year’s revenue targets and finding a successor to the outgoing Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman as almost the entire top hierarchy of the tax machinery is going to retire in the next seven months.

The most prominent among them are FBR Chairman Nisar Mohammad Khan, Member Inland Revenue Operations Dr Mohammad Irshad and Chief Commissioner Large Taxpayer Unit (LTU) Lahore Chaudhry Safdar.

The last two had been candidates for the post of FBR chairman earlier, but the government decided to retain Khan until his retirement.

There will be a major change on senior positions, starting from next month till June 2017. Sources said part of the reason for low performance in the FBR in first four months of the current fiscal year was the upcoming retirement of senior officers of the FBR and infighting among top FBR bureaucrats.

Things settled down temporarily only after Finance Minister Ishaq Dar intervened last month, said the sources.

Officers to retire

Some of the officers who are retiring before June 2017 are Nisar Muhammad Khan who will retire on January 17, 2017, Dr Mohammad Irshad who will retire in April 2017 and Chaudhry Safdar who will retire on March 1, 2017.

Other important members who will retire are Member Inland Revenue Audit Raana Seerat in April 2017, Member Special Projects Shaista Abbas in December 2016, Member Accounts Seema Majeed in January 2017, Member Withholding Taxes Haroon Khan Tareen in December 2016 and Member Administration FBR Majid Qureshi in June 2017.

Dr Mohammad Iqbal, who is a grade-20 officer, is holding two charges - Member Information Technology and Member Strategic Planning, Reforms and Statistics. The government has recently replaced Member Legal and Member Facilitation and Taxpayers Education of the FBR. In Karachi, out of five chief commissioners, four are of junior ranks.

This has limited the finance minister’s choice for the FBR chairman post, although some think he may appoint his Special Assistant Tariq Pasha - grade-21 officer of the Inland Revenue - as the new chairman.

There will still be two senior officers in the FBR after retirements.

The sources said Pasha could also be considered for the post of secretary finance, as the current secretary, Dr Waqar Masood, is retiring in January. However, Shahid Mehmood - Pakistan’s Executive Director in the IMF - is said to be on top of the list of candidates who will be considered as successor to Masood.

Mehmood is a grade-22 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service, formerly known as the DMG Group, and has worked with the finance minister in the past.

Tax target

There is also a strong view in the FBR that the Rs3.621 trillion annual tax collection target is unachievable after the FBR sustained Rs82 billion shortfall in the first four months. They believed the new chairman would not accept the tax target. The sources said a timely change in the top management may help the government to at least come closer to the target even if it is not achievable.

There was a view that the entire top hierarchy of FBR should be replaced latest by December 2016 so that there is ownership in meeting tax revenue targets for the year and a strategic change takes place in FBR. They are also of the opinion that the new top team at FBR should be pro-tax reforms and officers of high integrity.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2016.

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