Daily Times

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Tuesday said around 9000 retailers have registered under the FBR, Point of Sale System (POS) to achieve the goal of automation and digitalization in the tax process.

Director General Automation Abdul Wahid said this during the inauguration session of the 3-day workshop titled “Digitalization of Taxes in Pakistan” jointly organized by FBR and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP).

Abdul Wahid said steps are being taken to digitalize the country’s tax system in collaboration with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

He highlighted that the track and trace system has been fully implemented in major tax sectors including cigarettes, sugar and fertilizer, adding that in the cement sector, the system will also be fully implemented in the coming 2 months. Meanwhile, Member Administration and Human Resources FBR, Syed Nadeem Rizvi has appreciated the commitment and dedication of the Economic Affairs Officer of UNESCAP, Alberto Isgut for supporting FBR by identifying reverent and highly qualified resource persons to speak on different topics.

He said that the transformation of the taxation process from a paper base to a digital board is very important for the documentation of Pakistan’s economy.

“FBR keeping global trends as a part of the journey of digitalization by launching four key projects which included track and trace system, point of sale system, digital invoicing and data analysis, and Synchronized Withholding Administration and Payment Software (SWAPS)”, he added. He said that FBR has established the Directorate General of Digital initiative in the drive to consolidate all the digital initiatives under one umbrella.

Syed Nadeem Rizvi said that during 3 days workshop speakers would share their experiences with participants as to how their countries practice Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools for increasing tax revenues. A senior official of FBR said by learning from different experiences, FBR aims to build capacity within FBR to not only effectively implement these programs but also to further improve our daily infrastructure and contribute to the sustainable economic growth and development of Pakistan. He also appreciated the efforts of the Directorate General of Digital initiative for actively engaging with UNESCAP members and other participants to make this conference a reality.