Islamabad: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Sunday announced its decision to invite third-party firms to provide intermediary platform services to facilitate the electronic filing of citizens’ tax returns as well as the further promotion of its Active Taxpayer List. The taxation agency intends to register these intermediaries for providing ‘flexible and user-friendly platforms’, and greater accessibility, thereby, to the country’s taxpayers.
Official sources revealed that FBR’s alliance with third-party service providers would allow taxpayers to choose a preferable platform for electronic filing of citizens’ tax returns. They added that third-party inclusion would also assist FBR in broadening the tax base, along with increasing its revenue collection.
In a similar move, the Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL) has also sought the assistance of third-party independent solution providers. In response, the IT Industry has welcomed the efforts of FBR and PRAL. To facilitate this measure, the FBR is also developing the required SOPs to ensure that taxpayers have adequate security in terms of their data while using these IT solutions. According to sources, the board expects to introduce these SOPs from next Tax Year onwards.
As per the details shared, experts have advised FBR to focus on finalising the SOPs and introducing the third party based e-filing systems to facilitate taxpayers for tax returns of Tax Year 2020. They also believe that this initiative would relieve the FBR’s own IT system from excessive load during peak timings.
