ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif said that the scams of Rs 800 billion in tax refunds were unearthed during the last four months, expressing confidence in the results of the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) digitisation, ARY News reported.
Presiding over a meeting regarding FBR’s reforms and digitization, PM Shehbaz said that the country’s revenue could be increased considerably through further reforms in the FBR. He said the tax refund system of the FBR will be further improved.
The prime minister termed the ‘unnecessary’ delay in implementing several projects regarding the reforms in FBR as regrettable.
PM Shehbaz was briefed that that 83,579 cases worth Rs 3.2 trillion are pending in various courts and tribunals regarding taxes. It was said that the sitting government has taken various steps to resolve the pending tax cases.
It was informed that during the last four months, 63 cases worth Rs 44 billion were disposed of by various courts.
The meeting participants were told that 4.9 million people, who can afford to pay taxes, have been identified through use of advanced technology.
PM Shehbaz instructed to bring these 4.9 million deserving people to the tax net on a preferential basis and no additional burden should be put on the poor.
The meeting was further informed that 150,000 retailers have so far been registered with the Tajir Dost app since April 2024.
Read More: PM Shehbaz forms steering committee for FBR reforms
The prime minister directed the concerned officials to keep the retailers in the loop to make this system more efficient. He instructed to increase the number of appellate tribunals to 100 for speedy decisions of the cases and disposal of the cases related to customs. Besides, the instructions were given to prepare a dashboard to assess the performance of appellate tribunals.
PM Shehbaz advised to fully digitise the Fraud Detection and Investigation Department of the FBR. He stressed the need to formulate a strategy for bringing all ongoing reform projects in FBR under a central system.
