Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar, while appreciating the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) efforts, urged the board to meet the tax revenue target that was set at the beginning of the current fiscal year.

Chairing a meeting on the matters pertaining to the FBR, the minister said that strong tax revenue collections would play an important role in achieving higher, sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

The finance minister said that accession to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters had enabled Pakistan to benefit from automatic exchange of information for tax purposes with other countries that were signatories to the convention.

Earlier, Haroon Akhtar Khan, special assistant to the prime minister on revenue, briefed the finance minister on the performance of the FBR.

He said that the FBR was actively working on the implementation of the remaining steps under the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, to which Pakistan became a signatory in September 2016.

He informed the minister that all formalities to sign the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information, which is one of the remaining steps to be implemented under the said OECD Multilateral Convention, are almost complete.

Meanwhile, Ishaq Dar chaired a meeting to discuss various reforms being undertaken to enhance the quality and capacity of the Audit Department.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister said that audit was an important function for good governance, as it played a major role in enhancing transparency and ensuring accountability, said a statement issued by the Finance Ministry.

He said that effective audit strengthens government efforts to eradicate financial irregularities and financial misappropriation.

Auditor General of Pakistan Rana Assad Amin informed the finance minister about the performance of the department and various initiatives taken in recent years to enhance the output as well as effectiveness of the audit function.

The auditor general elaborated that output of the department included 596 audit reports – 101 financial attests, 151 special audits, 133 foreign aided audits and 211 regularity audit reports.

During 2015-16, 11,000 formations were audited involving an audited amount of Rs 9.477 trillion, he said.

He highlighted that reforms, based on the department’s first-ever strategic plan, included improving financial and organisational independence, capacity-building, development of communication and cooperation with stakeholders, use of modern audit techniques and technologies and improving internal governance.

Operational reforms also included a paradigm shift, involving reintroduction of risk-based auditing, focused on systemic issues.

The finance minister was also briefed on the salient points of the legislation for Auditor General’s Act, leading to greater financial and operational independence of the department.

Ishaq Dar appreciated the overall performance of the department and its agenda on systemic reforms.

He specifically appreciated 100 percent increase in recoveries affected by audit, from Rs 40 billion in 2014-15 to Rs 81 billion in 2015-16.

The auditor general also informed the finance minister about the pension reforms, which were initiated on his directives in October 2015.

He said that out of a total of 2,600,000 pensioners, more then 700,000 cases had been converted to direct credit system (DCS) to facilitate smooth payments to the pensioners.

He said that the pensioners’ form had now been simplified – from the conventional format of nine pages to three pages.

The finance minister appreciated the progress of computerised mode of payment and processing of all new cases through the DCS. He directed that rest of the pensioners drawing pension through the conventional mode may be converted to the direct credit system in a prompt manner.

The meeting was informed that following the finance minister’s directives to facilitate the pensioners, especially widows, all ministries/divisions had appointed pensioner welfare officers as focal persons.

The minister further directed that pensioner welfare officers may be provided training by the AGPR offices and that the banks may further improve pensioners’ facilitation by making proper seating arrangements as well as dedicated timeframe for attending the pensioners.