ISLAMABAD: The modified Virtual One-Stop Shop (VOSS) portal for integrated company and tax registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has become functional.
The SECP assumed the ownership of the VOSS project in September 2016, and 446 companies registered under eServices were allotted national tax numbers between March 6 and April 4, 2017.
VOSS is aimed at reducing the turnaround time for business start-ups, facilitating investors, and enhancing coordination of activities among the regulatory authorities by enabling mutual sharing of information through a unified web portal.
The project was launched on the basis of recommendations made in the ‘Starting a Business’ report by the World Bank, which highlighted the need for unified registration process for major government agencies in Pakistan.
Earlier, the SECP modified the VOSS portal after facing various technical issues in the software, and developed the web-services for utilisation by FBR and Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) in November 2016.
The NTN registration has been a stand-alone procedure under the ‘Starting a Business’ indicator of the World Bank’s report, but the procedure will be combined with company registration after the integration of eServices with the FBR system.
This integration will not only facilitate investors but will also reduce the number of procedures for business start-up as outlined in the 2017 World Bank’s report, which is likely to improve the doing business ranking of the country in the coming years.
