Digital payment system’s success hinges on FBR portal efficiency

KARACHI: The success of electronic payment of duty and taxes depends on efficiency of official portal of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Saeed Ahmed, president of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) said on Tuesday.
Addressing a seminar on “E-payment System for duty and taxes 24X7”, organised by the FPCCI Standing Committee on Customs, he said, “At present, there are many problems on Federal Board of Revenue’s portal,” adding that it is not easy for a taxpayer to use the FBR’s website for filing his return.
The digital payment system requires efficient system with speedy processing. Ahmed said that the digital banking is the future of Pakistan. “Many developed economies have put in place systems where banking has been done without human interference,” he said, adding that Pakistan is also moving towards that direction.
A lot of things had already been done by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for digital payment system, he said. Saeed said that the National Bank of Pakistan is launching a mobile phone application for payment of duty and taxes where consumer / Customs could be able to scan QRT code and make payments.
Rehan Akhtar, director, Automation and Reforms (Customs), highlighted the procedure for e-payment of duty and taxes through 36 scheduled banks in the country. The State Bank of Pakistan, Federal Board of Revenue and 1Link have jointly developed the online payment system, which is scheduled to start next month.
Akhtar said that the primary objective to launch online payment system is to curtail business process in Customs, besides facilitating taxpayers with 24X7 payment system. It is also the requirement of protocols under the World Trade Organization (WTO) and World Customs Organization (WCO) for making payment automated.
He said the launch of this system would reduce the time to only 25 minutes against four days of the Customs clearance payments. Rehan said that the module would work same as withdrawing or depositing amount through ATM.
Earlier, Arshad Jamal, chairman of the FPCCI Standing Committee on Customs, said that this would resolve the longstanding issue of duty and tax payments. He praised the Federal Board of Revenue and the State Bank of Pakistan for evolving the system and said it would reduce dwell time and enhance Customs clearance.
Jamal said that the use of automated system had increased the efficiency of Pakistan Customs, as currently around 80 percent of goods clearance is being done through green channel.