ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Member Strategic Planning and Reforms and Spokesman Dr Mohammad Iqbal has said that International Monetary Fund (IMF) program is almost completed. He said that Pakistan is not under pressure from any donor agency nowadays.
During an exclusive interview with Customs Today after his arrival from Dubai, Dr Mohammad Iqbal said that the IMF authorities are satisfied with the performance of the FBR while they also lauded the efforts of the FBR to expand tax net. He said that Pakistan will also get the membership of the Organization of Economic Cooperation for Development (OECD) next month positively. He said that the membership of the OECD is a landmark achievement for Pakistan.
Dr. Mohammad Iqbal said that FBR will review the property prices on yearly basis. He said that property prices will increase gradually. He said that FBR will also introduce some positive measures which will put a positive impact on real estate sector of Pakistan. He said that FBR will follow their strategic planning which will helpful to gain revenue targets.
FBR Member Dr. Mohammad Iqbal said that ballot for audit cases will be held next month as we also made some amendments in the audit procedure. He said that political parties should avoid to criticize FBR as there not familiar with taxation rules.
Dr. Mohammad Iqbal said that we expedited our efforts to enhance recovery campaign and this is the main reason that IMF authorities lauded the performance of FBR in every field particularly in area of expanding our tax net. He said that due to our effective planning there is narrow possibility that tax evaders will succeed to dodge FBR. Now all those people whose income is falls under the category of taxpayers will haven to pay taxes. He said that FBR obtained all the data which will help a lot to detect tax evaders.
FBR Member Strategic Planning Dr. Mohammad Iqbal said that FBR recovery cell is functioning well and using all available resources to collect revenue from tax evaders.
He said that all credit goes to present government that they seriously persuaded to get membership of OECD. He said that due to strong economic policies of the present government and FBR we are now saying goodbye to IMF. He said that credit also goes to Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Revenue Haroon Akhtar who never put any pressure and allowed to function FBR independently.
FBR Member Dr. Mohammad Iqbal said that M/s Agility case is also decided in favour of Pakistan which is another landmark all FBR stance on M/s Agility case is also recognized on international forums. Dr. Mohammad Iqbal said that we are adopting measures to make our tax system as foolproof and simple.
Dr. Mohammad Iqbal said that we finalized our strategic planning with the consultations of all other members. He said that while finalizing our strategy we examined all the data of previous year. Dr. Mohammad Iqbal said that now we set our goals according to our new strategic planning. Dr. Iqbal said that we are also examining tax statements of various departments.
Replying to a question FBR Member Planning said that it is our national duty to pay taxes as strong economy is backbone of any country for development and progress.