Standing Committee of Senate on Finance Revenue and Economic Affairs was informed that Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected Rs 1280 billion against a target of Rs1447 billion by October 31, which was 16.3 percent higher than previous year.
The Committee was informed about details of revenue collected during the Financial Year 2019-20 as against a target of PKR 5.5 trillion by the FBR.
The meeting of Committee was chaired by Senator Farooq Hamid Naek here at Parliament House.
Briefing about details of increase in number of tax-payers in the current financial year, it was informed by the senior FBR official that an increase of 65.2 percent was witnessed vis-a-vis the corresponding period of last year.
The Committee was also informed that out of 2655081 return filers, 888748 new tax-payers have been added.
The number of individuals that availed Asset Declaration Ordinance 2019 was 124,208. Tax-payers of PKR 4.7 billion under the present scheme was also observed, he said.
The Committee took up the agenda which included smuggling of LED TVs, referred by Chairman Senate, discussing the details of smuggling of LED TVs, the body was informed that the ongoing momentum of countrywide enforcement operations against smuggling of goods including LED TVs was in full swing. These measures have registered an increase of 40 percent during FY 2018-19 as compared to previous financial years.
It was pointed out that the main challenge, faced by the agency, was a ban on recruitment which has now been lifted.
The Committee stressed the need for training of forces that have been granted anti-smuggling powers such as the Coast Guards and Frontier Corps.
Deliberating the steps taken to get Pakistan out of the FATF Grey List, the Committee was informed that Pakistan was committed to align the country with global financial system and position Pakistan as a reliable partner in countering global ML/TF challenges.
Towards this end, Pakistan has formalized Internal Action Plan to revamp legal regulatory and supervising framework.
The meeting was attended by Senators Syed Shibli Faraz, Mohsin Aziz, Mian Muhammad Ateeq Shaikh, Muhammad Akram and senior officers from the Ministry of Finance Revenue and Economic Affairs, FBR, State Bank of Pakistan, and Customs of Pakistan.
