The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has planned to launch Pakistan’s single sales tax return filing portal to ensure the ease of doing business. This initiative aims to digitise and automate the process of revenue collection and facilitate the taxpayers. The launching of the online portal is part of the World Bank’s condition owing to a loan of $400 million.
At present, six tax authorities are operating in the country and receiving sales tax returns as it is mandatory to file the tax return to every single tax jurisdiction such as FBR, Sindh Revenue Board, Punjab Revenue Authority, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority, and Balochistan Revenue Authority. Some of the taxpayers had to file returns with the revenue authorities of Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan also. It is an incommodious task for the taxpayers which often leads to complications and disputes over jurisdiction.
The sales tax portal will simplify the tax collection process and also reduce the time, effort and compliance cost of the taxpayers. This portal is aimed at facilitating the taxpayers to file their returns to a single tax authority instead of multiple tax jurisdictions. The single tax portal system is a significant milestone towards the harmonisation of taxes between the federal government and provinces.
The government is taking steps to improve the taxation system by introducing new digital techniques, providing support to the taxpayers to create a stimulated and professional workforce. To increase the governmental revenue, the central authority should focus on simplifying tax laws to create a taxpayer-friendly environment and develop an honest and efficient tax administration.
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