Help to curb tax evasion offered

Islamabad:The Khyber Tobacco Company [KTC] has offered Prime Minister Imran Khan all possible assistance for Federal Board of Revenue’s [FBR] track and trace system to curb tax evasion in tobacco and other industries.

In a letter to the prime minister, the company’s chief executive officer Samira Irfan said that the track and trace system must be accompanied by strong law enforcement through well coordination among all competent agencies.

It is abundantly clear that digital solutions of the type that track and trace offers represent the major step forward and will be of great benefit to all stakeholders in the tobacco industry, she said.

The prime minister, last month addressing a federal cabinet meeting, said the implementation of the trace and trace system was crucial for curbing tax evasion in the country. Around 40 percent of the cigarettes were being sold without paying taxes while the FBR’s repeated efforts to introduce automation in the industry for the last 15 years were sabotaged.

The KTC, which is the third-largest producer of cigarettes in Pakistan with a 3 percent share of market, becomes the first-ever local company to welcome the government’s track and trace system for the tobacco industry.

The company is the single largest taxpayer in the KPK Province and one of the country’s largest exporters of raw tobacco leaf. Samira Irfan said that her company is a strong supporter of a well-functioning track and trace system to improve the governance and competitiveness of the Pakistani tobacco market.