PM Imran directs FBR to widen tax net, facilitate tax payers

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday directed the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) to widen tax net and to focus on recovery from big tax evaders.

Chairing a high-level meeting on tax reforms, PM Imran khan directed the FBR to facilitate tax payers and bring non-filers and tax evaders under tax net. He asked the officials to finalize draft laws pertaining to offshore properties at the earliest and suggested to establish Offshore Taxation Commissionerates in six major cities to solve cases pertaining to offshore assets.

On the occasion, PM Imran underscored the need for restoration of people’s trust in the tax system and added that the FBR officials had been harassing the business community and the common man in the country. He lashed out at the former governments for neglecting the flaws in the tax system and said that no ruler had focused on widening tax net.

The prime minister said that the former rulers had made tax recovery system complicated in the wake of their personnel interests. He said that Pakistan was spending 30 per cent of its total expenditure on overall interest payments.

The meeting was told that internal audit department was being separated from FBR to enhance performance of the organization and to ensure transparency. The prime minister was informed that notices had been issued to hundreds of people in light of the information received from different sources regarding Pakistani citizens having taxable assets abroad.

The officials told the meeting that a comprehensive plan had been devised to introduce reforms in FBR to facilitate the tax payers.