FBR initiates drive to make tax education part of university curricula

ISLAMABAD: A team of Facilitation and Taxpayer Education (FATE) Wing of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Thursday visited the National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST) Islamabad to request for greater academic focus and research on taxation and inculcation of tax education as a key component of university curricula.

The team led by Member FATE Ms Nausheen Javaid Amjad met the management of NUST School of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSSH), and had a detailed interactive session with a large gathering of faculty and students of various departments on the need and importance of the tax education and tax literacy for enabling the students to be the change agents for promoting a tax-compliant society.

She briefed the students on various initiatives taken by the FBR in the recent months, such as the likes of modernization of FBR’s helpline, installation of a state-of-the-art Customer Relationship Management System (CRMS), publication of the facilitation brochures and material and various tax awareness and outreach programmes to bridge the gap between the tax authorities and the taxpayers, as well as to create the essential awareness and understanding of taxes and filing of the income tax returns.

“People need to know that filing of the income tax returns is not only a national and civic duty, it also entails many benefits and advantages in terms of low tax rates on various transactions for the filers,” she said.

The FBR Member also shed some light on the various outreach sessions and training workshops conducted by FBR on e-filing and other aspects of taxation for the employees of several large public and private sector organisations in the recent months and offered to hold similar training sessions and workshops for the outgoing students of NUST.

“Our efforts have already resulted in significant improvement in the number of return filers this year and we hope our academic institutions can further create tax literacy to increase tax compliance and help the students learn the importance of something they confront well before they receive their first salaries and incomes after joining the business world as entrepreneurs and high-end professionals,” she added.

Speaking on the occasion, NUST SSSH Principal and Dean Dr Ashfaque Hassan Khan and NUST School of Economics Head of Department (HoD) Prof Dr Athar Maqsood Ahmad welcomed the FBR’s initiative of doing away with the traditional, one-way communication of the past.

They also lauded FBR for starting a more engaging, interactive and productive partnership with the taxpayers and particularly students who were the future’s opinion makers and business leaders, leading the way in the use and adoption of new innovative technologies to drive socio-economic changes in the society.