ISLAMABAD – The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), to make the tax system more transparent, has requested the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to share data of foreign exchange remittances. An official source told Pakistan Today on Sunday that Chairman FBR Salman Saddique held a meeting with Governor State Bank Shahid Hafeez Kardar.
The FBR is faced with the challenge of ending corruption and under-invoicing for the last several years whereby businessmen and officials embezzle billions of rupees. In November, when Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) was tabled in the Parliament, the political parties and the people at large severely criticizing FBR had said that the government should eliminate corruption in the organization, instead of imposing more taxes on the poor people.
The source said that FBR had sought the SBP to consider amendment in Foreign Exchange Rule 13 (3) to incorporate National Trade Number and Sales Tax Registration in the process of remittances to facilitate the sharing of the same with FBR by developing electronic interfaces. According to the source, the necessary changes,
which FBR sought from the SBP, would also replace the banks existing reporting system to enable the FBR to share data on real time basis, which means that banks would report the transaction on daily basis instead of monthly, adding that this will allow the FBR to tally the invoices and the data of the transaction through the electronic system to curtail corruption and increase revenue.
