Islamabad: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has initiated the budget preparation process for the fiscal year 2025-26, inviting proposals on Income Tax, Sales Tax, Federal Excise Duty, and ICT Tax on Services from Inland Revenue field formations, as well as business and trade bodies. The objective is to address tax distortions, procedural hurdles, and anomalies while enhancing the overall tax framework.
In its directives issued on Wednesday, the FBR announced that it aims to finalize a refined Finance Bill 2025 by leveraging stakeholder input. This year, the process has started earlier than usual to ensure thorough consideration of proposals and efficient policy formulation.
The FBR has identified key focus areas for stakeholder recommendations, including:
Broadening the tax base to ensure wider participation in revenue generation.
Bringing the entire value chain of businesses into the GST regime.
Promoting progressive taxation by targeting affluent classes with higher tax incidences.
Phasing out tax concessions and exemptions across all tax laws.
Simplifying tax laws and eliminating redundancies to facilitate taxpayers and improve ease of doing business.
Reducing tax arbitrage opportunities to enhance economic efficiency and maintain tax neutrality.
Addressing procedural lapses, tax distortions, and anomalies.
The FBR emphasized that these areas are not exhaustive and welcomes well-structured, actionable proposals requiring amendments, additions, or deletions in existing tax laws. Stakeholders are urged to submit their suggestions by January 31, 2025.
This initiative is part of the FBR’s ongoing efforts to streamline the tax system, encourage progressive policies, and create a more efficient and equitable taxation framework.
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