Federal Board of Revenue (Pakistan)

Federal Board of Revenue

Federal Board of Revenue (Revenue Division)
Agency overview
Type	Revenue Collection
Jurisdiction	Pakistan
Headquarters	Islamabad, ICT, Pakistan
Employees	1600
Minister responsible	Ishaq Dar
Agency executive	Tariq Bajwa, Secretary
Parent department	Ministry of Finance
Website	www.fbr.gov.pk

Federal Board of Revenue

The Federal Board of Revenue (more commonly known by its initials as FBR) is the semi-autonomous, supreme federal agency of Pakistan that is responsible for auditing, enforcing and collecting revenue for the government of Pakistan. FBR has the responsibility for (i) for'mulation and administration of fiscal policies, (ii) levy and collection of federal taxes and (iii) quasi-judicial function of hearing of appeals. FBR is estimated to be the largest federal bureaucracy in Pakistan. As the agency conducts audit of taxpayers regularly, it's regarded as the guardian of national treasury in Pakistan. FBR primarily operates through its main collection arms, its field formations, the Regional Tax Offices (RTOs) and Large Taxpayer Units (LTUs) across the country. FBR has two major wings: the Inland Revenue Service (Income Tax Department) which brings in about 54% of FBR's total collection and Customs Wing now called as Pakistan Customs Service. Mostly in the media, the acronym 'FBR' is also often mentioned when speaking in relation to Inland Revenue Officers (previously Income Tax Department officials) in Pakistan. Income Tax Officers (now Inland Revenue Officers) are considered some of the very powerful officers in the country. For the purpose of collection of revenue and pursuing tax evaders, FBR's powers & functions also include but are not limited to: carrying out inquiries and audits/investigations into the tax affairs, commanding arrests, attachment as well as public auction of movable and immovable assets of a non-compliant. Tariq Bajwa is the current chairman of FBR; he was appointed by Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif after May 2013 election. The seat became vacant after the retirement of Ansar Javed who was a Grade 22 officer of the IRS. Tariq Bajwa does not originally belong to IRS or PCS cadre.

RTO KARACHI BUILDING

History and description

The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) was created on April 1, 1924 through enactment of the Central Board of Revenue Act, 1924. In 1944, a full-fledged Revenue Division was created under the Ministry of Finance. After independence, this arrangement continued up to 31 August 1960 when on the recommendations of the Administrative Re-organization Committee, CBR was made an attached department of the Ministry of Finance. In 1974, further changes were made to streamline the organization and its functions. Consequently, the post of Chairman CBR was created with the status of ex officio Additional Secretary and Secretary Finance was relieved of his duties as ex officio Chairman of the CBR.
     In order to remove impediments in the exercise of administrative powers of a Secretary to the Government and effective formulation and implementation of fiscal policy measures, the status of CBR as a Revenue Division was restored under the Ministry of Finance on October 22, 1991. However, the Revenue Division was abolished in January 1995, and CBR reverted to the pre-1991 position. The Revenue Division continued to exist since from December 1, 1998; however, owing to the recent controversy which arose when the federal government appointed the new CBR Chairman of the seventh common, bypassing several senior-most officials in the Customs & Federal Excise department, Prime Minister of Pakistan gave an additional charge of Revenue Division, Government of Pakistan to the then Secretary Finance and now the chairman of the agency Salman Siddiq, Government of Pakistan, thereby violating Federal Board of Revenue Act, 2007 as the senior officials in the then Customs & Excise Group now Pakistan Customs Service (PCS) refused reporting to a junior officer.

By the enactment of FBR Act 2007 in July 2007 the Central Board of Revenue has now become Federal Board of Revenue. The status of FBR as Revenue Division has again been restored.

Large Taxpayer Unit

Members of the Board

Member Inland Revenue (Operations)

Member Inland Revenue (Policy)

Member Customs

Member Administration

Member Taxpayers Audit

Member Legal

Member Accounting

Member FATE

Member Information Technology

Member Research, Planning and Reforms

Directorates Under FBR's Jurisdiction

Directorate of Transit Trade

Directorate of Training (Inland Revenue)

Directorate of Training (Customs)

Directorate of Withholding Tax

Directorate of Internal Audit

Directorate of Post Clearance Audit

Cadre Strength of Inland Revenue Service

One of the largest cadres in Pakistan Civil Services. The cadre strength mentioned here doesn't include provincial revenue authorities i.e Punjab Revenue Authority and Sindh Revenue Authority. The officers are posted at various Regional Tax Offices (RTO) and Large Tax Payer Units (LTU) and Tax Facilitation Centers.

IRS Cadre 2015

Cadre Strength of Pakistan Customs Service

Comprises the smaller yet more spread out component of FBR. The field offices are named Model Customs Collectorates.

Customs Cadre 2015

Notable former chairmen

First Ex Officio Chairman of CBR was Sir Victor Turner from August 14, 1947 to February 1, 1950. Ghulam Ishaq Khan also who later became the president of Pakistan served as the board chairman from May 31, 1966 to September 8, 1970. The then Finance Secretary A G N Kazi also served as Chairman CBR from 1970-71 until his Additional Secretary M Zulfiqar took over as the first full-time Chairman of the Board.

Tax collection trend

This is a chart of trend of taxes collected by the Central Board of Revenue of Pakistan with figures in millions of Pakistani Rupees.[1]

Year	Total	Direct Taxes	Indirect Taxes
1996	129,282,087	658,485,060	211,597,027
2000	982,392,277	251,124,585	124,5267,692
2005	429,282,087	129,282,087	611,597,027

Since the mid-1990s, Sales Tax has grown dramatically in significance to the exchequer while Excise collection has stagnated.

See also

• Taxation in Pakistan
• PRAL

References

[2]