ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (APP) – Invoices validated by consumers who bought at outlets linked with the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) Point of Sale (POS) system climbed by 62.7 percent in February 2022 compared to the previous month (January).
According to the Finance Ministry’s Monthly Economic Update and Outlook for March 2022, about 249,000 invoices were confirmed by consumers who bought at outlets connected with the FBR POS System in February 2022, up from 153,000 in January 2022.
According to the study, the continuing campaign and award system gained traction as the number of participants increased.
Meanwhile, the number of consumers who successfully confirmed their bills increased by 44.4 percent from 27,000 in January to about 39,000 in February.
The report referred to it as a tremendous growth in public engagement and expressed hope that it would continue to expand with each passing day.
It is worth noting that the FBR has undertaken an aggressive awareness campaign in the mainstream national media to educate and involve customers in order to guarantee that tax received at the point of sale is paid into the state exchequer rather than pocketed by shops.
The campaign also includes a reward plan of Rs.53 million that will be distributed to 1007 fortunate winners via a transparent computerised poll held on the 15th of every month at the FBR Headquarters in Islamabad.
As a result of aggressive enforcement by FBR Field Formations across Pakistan, over 3600 of the approximately 4200 Tier-1 Retailers have already linked their business operations with the FBR POS System.
Their 17000 locations with over 19500 cash counters are completely connected with POS System, allowing FBR to digitally monitor their sales and guarantee that the Sales Tax collected from consumers is transferred into the state exchequer without fail, it added.
Meanwhile, the FBR is about to launch another another out-of-the-box digital intervention for Tax Base Broadening.
The FBR has previously gathered information from numerous sources regarding the assets and expenditures of people who are not subject to taxation. This information will be made available to such individuals via the FBR’s “Tax Asaan” Portal.
By signing a memorandum of understanding with the Pakistan Tax Bar during the first week of February this year, the board has taken a further move to guarantee ease of filing a tax return by new taxpayers for Broadening of Tax Base.
