Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has instructed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to accelerate its digitisation efforts after discovering an 800 billion rupees tax refund fraud in the past four months, as reported on July 19.
According to the details, PM Shehbaz emphasised the importance of improving the tax refund system to increase revenue. He expressed regret over the delays in implementing various reform projects within the FBR.
During the meeting, it was revealed that 83,579 tax-related cases, worth 3.2 trillion rupees, are pending in different courts and tribunals. The current government has been actively working to resolve these cases, with 63 cases worth 44 billion rupees already disposed of in the last four months.
Advanced technology has identified 4.9 million people who can afford to pay taxes. PM Shehbaz instructed the FBR to prioritise bringing these wealthy individuals into the tax net, ensuring that the poor are not burdened further.
The meeting also highlighted the registration of 150,000 retailers through a trader-friendly mobile phone system since April. PM Shehbaz advised continuous consultation with retailers to improve this system and called for increasing the number of appellate tribunals to 100 to expedite case resolutions.
He also directed the enhancement of appellate tribunals to handle customs cases and the creation of a dashboard to assess their performance. Furthermore, the Prime Minister stressed the need to fully digitise the Fraud Detection and Investigation Department of the FBR and to centralize all ongoing reform projects under a unified strategy.
PM Shehbaz’s directives aim to modernise the FBR, enhance revenue collection, and ensure a fair tax system by targeting those who can afford to pay taxes while protecting the less privileged.
