FBR gears up to meet ‘ambitious’ revenue target

New chairman takes charge, orders action against non performing personnel.

ISLAMABAD: The newly appointed chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue has expressed concerns over income and sales tax evasion, and asked officers to step up their efforts in order to achieve an ambitious tax target of Rs1,952 billion.

Mumtaz Haider Rivzi, who has recently been given the additional charge of chairman FBR, has directed his staff to monitor monthly tax targets and focus upon the recovery of sales and income taxes, said an official. The chairman was presiding over a Board-in-Council meeting – the highest decision making body of the FBR.

Rizvi was quoted as saying that any less than the potential collection may cost the FBR the annual tax target.

The FBR has assigned revised targets to all large taxpayer units, regional taxpayer offices and to the Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation, in an all-out bid to achieve the yearly target of Rs1,952 billion assigned for 2011-12.

The chairman has asked collections officers to focus on the enforcement and monitoring of the withholding tax regime, in a bid to collect additional revenues. The FBR has a sought monthly progress report from all of its field officers in this regard.

According to an official handout, members of the Board highlighted methodologies for achieving the revenue target through extensive discussions with the different heads. Collection strategies were developed and time-lines have been framed after the deliberations.

The meeting continued for seven hours during which the chairman elaborated on collection strategies based on presentations given by members of the Board. The chairman directed the Board members to ensure that the performance of FBR personnel be closely monitored by chief commissioners and chief collectors. The under achievers should be identified and action taken accordingly, he said.

A representative of the enforcement department gave a presentation on withholding taxes and informed the Board that there are 43,817 withholding agents throughout Pakistan. He pointed out deficiencies in the withholding agents’ compliance level as the FBR’s next area of focus. The FBR reiterated its commitment to launch a campaign against non performing withholding agents within the next 4 months – a proposal that had first been tabled, albeit without progress, by the former chairman Salman Siddique.

The Board will meet again in March to discuss its revenue collection strategy.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2012.