ISLAMABAD: The working groups have evolved their first draft to transform the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) into a modern and digitalised organisation to achieve sustained growth in national revenues.

The second meeting of the task force was chaired by State Minister for Finance and Revenue Ali Pervez Malik. It was co-chaired by the DG Command, Control, Communication, Computers, and Intelligence Network (C4I) along with FBR Chairman Rashid Mahmood Langrial.

At the outset, the conveners of the working groups briefed the task force over the recommendations. Dr Javed Ashraf from National Data and Registration Authority (Nadra) joined as the newest member of the task force.

Asif Peer from Systems Ltd gave a presentation on the restructuring of Pakistan Revenue Automation Ltd (PRAL), focusing on its governance structure, talent and capabilities, working model and technology. He also presented the analysis and initial findings to turn PRAL into a high-performing organisation.

Dr Javed Ashraf of Nadra gave a presentation on retrieving and integrating data from relevant organisations to develop a systematic and organised data profile to identify potential taxpayers.

His presentation also suggested short-, medium-, and long-term recommendations for achieving the desired objectives.

This was followed by Ghazi Akhtar’s presentation on supply chain automation and Track & Trace System (TTS), which, among others, emphasised utilising the already available data to bring wholesalers into the tax net as well as make TTS more efficacious and operative to collect due taxes from the relevant sectors effectively.

Ms Tania Aidrus gave a presentation on the trade data sharing interface with trading partners wherein it was stated that the true value and quantity of trade data are not captured in the customs system of Web Based One Customs (WeBOC) System of Goods Declaration and Clearance/Pakistan Single Window (PSW).

She also presented her group’s initial analysis.

Ali Pervez emphasised the need to harvest the already available data to identify potential taxpayers and bring them under the tax net for enhanced revenue collection and broadening the tax base.

He believed that improving the visibility of data integration would bring transparency to the system. He also directed the invitation for representatives from the ministries of foreign affairs and commerce, SECP and the State Bank of Pakistan to the next meeting.

Rashid Langrial called for enabling FBR to optimally utilise the IT services of PRAL by transforming the latter into an efficient entity. He stressed focusing on improving other areas and digitising FBR.

He said that cleansing of retrieved data is also necessary to make it more actionable. He expressed optimism that FBR is committed to enhancing revenue collection by implementing data automation and other innovative solutions.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2024