ISLAMABAD: The IMF has expressed concern over the deficiencies in Pakistan’s track and trace system.
On the second day of talks with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) review mission, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) took steps to increase the tax-to-GDP ratio and retailers under the Trader Friendly Scheme. A briefing was given about bringing in TaxNet, in which it was stated that the registration of traders under the Trader-Friendly App scheme has been speeded up, so far 2500 traders have been registered.
IMF officials were also apprised of the progress being made to bring more than 577,000 non-filers into the tax net. In this regard, it was informed that the process of blocking the names of non-filers is being streamlined. In this regard, a working group consisting of representatives of FBR, PTA and telecom companies is being formed.
Apart from this, the International Monetary Fund was also briefed about the track and trace system implemented in 5 sectors including tobacco, sugar, cement and beverages. Concerns have been expressed over the errors, on which the IMF was also informed about the recent action taken against those responsible for the errors in the track and trace system.
According to sources, discussions were also held between FBR and IMF mission on tax structure and tax administration. The IMF mission has called for a progress report on the implementation of the track and trace system. Apart from this, the report given to the Prime Minister’s Office has also been submitted to the IMF mission.
IMF has given deadline for full implementation of FBR track and trace system in 5 major sectors. According to the sources, the IMF mission has proposed to install the track and trace system in the next financial year.
In addition, the IMF mission and FBR have agreed to accelerate the reform process to increase the tax net and prevent tax evasion, after which further negotiations between the IMF mission and FBR officials are also underway. are A plan will be provided to the IMF mission to bridge the revenue shortfall.
