LAHORE: Essam Anwar Khokhar is currently posted as Deputy Commissioner Zone-IV, Corporate Regional Tax Office. This zone holds the jurisdiction of Audit and Enforcement & Collection of tax dues i.e. Income Tax, Sales and Federal Excise Duty of steel sector of Lahore. Companies with their names start with alphabets C & D and monitoring of withholding taxes of non-residents under Section 152 of Income Tax Ordinance-2001.
Under the dynamic leadership of Dr. Muhammad Irshaad (Current Chairman FBR); the FBR not only achieved its target last year but is constantly following the path to success. Dr. Irshaad guided the officers and empowered them so that they could make right decisions and accelerate the tax collection process, he said.
I am currently posted at enforcement and collection of tax dues of one of the units of steel sector in Zone IV. This sector is one of the toughest sectors as far as collection of taxes and duties are concerned, he maintained. As there are a number of cases related to tax evasions which include fake invoices and issues relating to the physical verification of the steel manufacturing units, he added. He further said we in our zone have unearthed many units which were involved in tax evasions and fraud regarding the physical verification. He took pride by saying that our zone has not only recovered the defaulted tax involved but also caught the tax evaders. He said the result was very effective as the only zone in Corporate Regional Tax Office (CRTO) which showed considerable growth of 75 % up to the month of March 2017 as compared to the previous tax year 2015-16 in both taxes in terms of steel sector.
Essam told Customs Today that our zone has done considerably well in monitoring of the withholding taxes under Section 152 (Non-residents) as the growth up to March as compared to previous tax year 2015-2016 is almost 220 percent.
He emphasized that I have been very lucky to have seniors like our worthy Commissioner Muhammad Irfan Raza and Behzad Anwar (Additional Commissioner) under whose supervision we not only learnt different methods of tax techniques but also achieved monthly and quarterly targets assigned to our zone since July 2016, rather we have surpassed the targets assigned. Had they both not been so supportive I would not have been able to perform at my full capacity therefore I learned a lot from both of them, he thanked his seniors.
He opined that one problem that needs to be addressed is that the supporting staff should be given trainings at different levels so that they could give utmost performance as well. Neither they have proper knowledge regarding the interpretations of tax laws nor can they work effectively with our IT based modules due to lack of computed related skills, he regrets.
This, in return, puts a lot of pressure directly on officers and affects the completion of various tasks. Secondly, the supporting staff and officers at audit wing need to be trained with the audit techniques being used in other third world countries. Thirdly, the shortage of supporting staff in the offices also creates hurdles in performing tasks effectively and efficiently.
He maintained that the FBR is unable to achieve the target in the third quarter because of the low oil prices, zero rating for export sector and payment of tax refunds to exporters. Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Dr. Muhammad Irshad recently at a video conference meeting with officers urged the board officers posted in field formations to speed up their efforts to meet the revenue collection targets set for the fiscal year 2016-17.
He said” I know it is a gigantic task but time and again the FBR officers and staff have done it in the past and I am sure with greater focus, energy and vigour that they can meet this year’s target as well.”