Technical, complaint oversight committees constituted in FBR

ISLAMABAD: As per Prime Minister’s vision to enhance facilitation to business community in the country and to comply with the directions of Advisor to PM on Finance and Revenue Abdul Hafeez Shaikh to make all possible efforts to re-vitalize industry and trade in the post Covid scenario and to minimize bottlenecks and difficulties’ relating to taxation issues, as another milestone, FBR has constituted two committees namely Technical Committee and Complaint Oversight Committee comprising of senior officers from Federal Board of Revenue and business community with the purpose to identify and remove the technical and complaint issues of businessmen. The Notification of constitution of committees has been issued. The Technical Committee will comprise of eleven members. Abid Shaban has been made the Chairman of the Committee. The other members include Khurram Mukhtar, Ejaz A. Khokhar, Khurram Tariq, Javed Balwani, Ali Jameel, Zakria Usman, Abdul Rashid Jan Muhammad, Aman Ghanchi and Member Customs Policy/Customs Operations. Member IR Policy will also be the Secretary of the Committee.

Terms of References of Technical Committee include the Identification of distortions, anomalies and inequalities in the taxation system which cause difficulties for taxpayers, or which discourage investment, industrialization and documentation, and propose solutions. The Committee will Propose measures to reduce the dependence on withholding taxes, minimum tax, advance tax, etc. The Committee will also Propose measures for simplification of all taxation procedures, in a manner which does not compromise revenue collection and documentation. Further, Proposals for improvements in the temporary importation and manufacturing bond schemes in order to enhance their scope and facilitate direct and indirect exporters throughout the value chain will also be finalized by the Committee. The Committee will Identify issues hindering smooth processing of refund claims through the FASTER system. It will Propose amendments in the procedures or thresholds relating to sales tax refund of various sub-sectors of exporters, and will Propose remedies for issues relating to adjustment of input tax paid against services subjected to sales tax by the provinces.

Likewise, a seven member Complaint Oversight Committee has also been constituted under the chairmanship of Mussadaq Zulqarnain.