Federal Cabinet to discuss FBR's restructuring

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister (PM) Anwaarul Haq Kakar has summoned a federal cabinet meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) in which the inter-ministerial committee formed for the restructuring of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will submit its report, ARY News reported.

According to sources, PM Kakar will chair the meeting and the cabinet members will be discussing on report of the committee headed Dr Shamshad Akhtar.

Other members of the inter-ministerial committee will include federal ministers for privatisation, foreign affairs, commerce, energy, law and justice and information technology.

The inter-ministerial committee has been mandated with recommendations with respect to the digitisation and restructuring of the FBR.

On January 23, PM Kakar ordered the constitution of an inter-ministerial committee for the restructuring of the FBR. The inter-ministerial committee was directed to come up with recommendations regarding the proposals in the next meeting of the federal cabinet.

Earlier, it was reported that the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) had approved the Finance Ministry summary regarding the restructuring of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

Sources said that after the restructuring of FBR, the tax policy will be included in the jurisdiction of the finance ministry. The eight-member board comprising secretaries from the finance ministry, commerce ministry and foreign ministry will overview the affairs of FBR.

The cabinet appreciated the efforts of Finance Minister Dr. Shamshad Akhtar in increasing the tax revenue and improving the tax-GDP ratio. The cabinet also admired the finance minister for presenting detailed proposals regarding the administrative structure of the FBR.

The prime minister and all members of the cabinet unanimously supported the proposals regarding the FBR reforms and reiterated that the caretaker government should play its due role in concluding the FBR reform agenda.