ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue, revising job description of all the FBR Members, has given them new responsibilities and powers under various statutes and FBR Act, 2007.
According to sources, FBR has delegated the new responsibilities and powers to Member Customs, Member Inland Revenue-Policy, Member Inland Revenue-Operations, Member Legal, Member Administration, Member SPR&S, Member Accounting, Member Facilitation and Taxpayer Education (FATE), Member Taxpayers Audit, Member Information Technology, Member Enforcement & WHT and Member HRM for smooth functioning and administration of the tax machinery and effective implementation of income tax, sales tax, federal excise duty and customs duty.
FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa lauded the efforts of Member Legal Ch Safdar Hussain and Special Assistant to Chairman Dr Muhammad Iqbal for their valuable contribution in chalking out delegations of powers and job descriptions in consultation with other Members of the Board.
After getting new responsibilities, Member Customs would deal with all policy matters, rules, regulations, interpretation of relevant laws and perform all allied functions, relating to Customs, including exemptions, duty drawbacks, rebates, changes/modifications in Pakistan Customs Tariff and judicial/legal matters.
Member Inland Revenue-Policy would frame budget proposals for Finance Act and take decisions on policy matters pertaining to Income Tax, Sales Tax, Federal Excise Duty, Income Support Levy, Capital Value Tax, Wealth Tax and Corporate Asset Tax.
As per new job description, Member Inland Revenue-Operations would be responsible for achieving the revenue targets and manage operations relating to Inland Revenue and would supervise revenue collection by Chief Commissioners of all RTOs / LTUs who will report to him.
He would liaise with the Member Customs for WHT on imports; exercise powers and perform functions of the Board under the provisions of Sales Tax Act 1990, Income Tax Ordinance 2001, Federal Excise Act 2005, Income Tax Rules 2002, Federal Excise Rules 2005 and Sales Tax Rules 2006, as delegated by the Board and perform any other duty or task assigned by the Chairman, FBR.
FBR Member Legal, with new responsibilities, would grant approval for filing of appeals/ references before High Courts and CPLAs before the Supreme Court. He would co-ordinate with field offices to ensure representation, filing of Para-wise comments, and pursuing litigation in various courts; co-ordinate with field offices and FTO office to ensure submission of reports to FTO, implement FTO recommendation, file representation before the President and review before the FTO and also co-ordinate with Law Division and Attorney General of Pakistan.
With the revised job description, Member Administration is now responsible to manage administration of Federal Board of Revenue; recruitment of officers/officials of FBR; transfer/posting of officers (BS-17 and above) of Inland Revenue and Customs in consultation with the concerned Line Members and with the approval of the Chairman and also do transfer/Posting of Commissioners (Appeal) and Collectors (Appeal) in consultation with Member (Legal).
He can exercise powers and perform functions of the Board under the provisions of Customs Act 1969, Sales Tax Act 1990, Income Tax Ordinance 2001 and Federal Excise Act 2005, as delegated by the Board and perform any other duty or task assigned by the Chairman, FBR.
He would also short list and nominate officers of FBR for mandatory training such as MCMC, SMC, NMC and NDU; deal with promotion/ disciplinary/litigation cases of FBR employees; manage record of FBR employees; manage sanctioned strength of FBR employees and be responsible for the development budget and its expenditure under PSDP.
FBR Member Strategic Planning, Reforms & Statistics (SPR&S) would formulate revenue targets and do strategic planning for their achievements, in consultation with line members and provide analysis of data relating to collection of taxes ie Direct Taxes, Indirect Taxes, Customs Duty, etc and fiscal updates on revenue generating efforts.
He would conduct studies, as suggested by other Wings, particularly sectoral analysis on tax contributions; co-ordinate with other financial institutions and perform any other duty or task assigned by the Chairman, FBR.
FBR Member Accounting or Member Internal Audit would deal with all matters relating to PAC/DAC on Audit Reports/Performance Audit reports/Special Studies Reports; deal with all matters relating to PAC/DAC on Appropriation Accounts (Grants with AGPR) and also deal with all matters relating to DAC on management/MFDAC (Memorandum for Departmental Accounts Committee) reports and Financial Attest of Financial Statements (Revenue Components) for each financial year; co-ordinate with Auditor General of Pakistan and Public Accounts Committee in matters relating to Audit and Vice Versa.
As per new job description, Member Facilitation and Taxpayer Education (FATE) would facilitate and educate taxpayers through development and execution of Media Campaigns on operational and policy matters of FBR.
She would conduct Awareness Campaigns, Conferences, Workshops, Seminars, etc for taxpayers; publish FBR’s News letter; assist taxpayers by addressing their queries through Call Centre/ Helpline/emails/Fax, etc; update and print all the statutes administered by FBR; manage and update FBR’s official website; comply with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act; process taxpayers’ grievances under Section 7 of FBR Act, 2007; disseminate explanatory literature, brochures, FAQs for taxpayers and exercise powers and perform functions of the Board under the provisions of Income Tax Ordinance 2001, as delegated by the Board.
Member Taxpayers Audit now is responsible to plan and design audit procedures; evaluate tax audits for all domestic taxes; devise and implement Annual National Audit Plan; prepare selection criteria for audit coverage of higher risk areas; spearhead the process of developing the audit methodology to assure audit quality; exercise powers and functions of the Board under Sales Tax Act 1990, Income Tax Ordinance 2001 and Federal Excise Act 2005, as delegated by the Board and perform any other duty or task assigned by the Chairman, FBR.
Member Information Technology would prepare plan and strategy for FBR in the field of Information & Communication Technology (1CT); provide support and assistance to the Senior Management in taking informed decision in the field of ICT; forecast and budget procurement of Software/Hardware/Networks, in co-ordination with PRAL and manage all ICT projects, including contract and Vendor Management, preparation of Bidding Documents/RFPs/Bid Evaluation Reports, Consultants’ TORs, etc, for award of contracts for procurement of Software/Hardware, Networks, in co-ordination with Pral.
Member Enforcement & WHT would be engaged in preparation of Annual integrated Enforcement Action Plan; analysis of data obtained from field formations regarding enforcement activities, including data of withholding taxes, arrears, etc; quarterly presentation of findings and recommendations based on aforementioned analysis before Board-in-Council; liaison with Member (IR-Operations) regarding collection of withholding taxes and plan and design procedures regarding taxpayer registration including control of non-registration; tax declarations including control of non-filing; tax payments; collection of tax arrears and collection of with-holding taxes.
Member HRM would process, short list and nominate officers for local and foreign training, other than mandatory training and IRS specific and Customs specific training; deal with all matters relating to Policies & Procedures for Performance-linked Bonus Schemes, Voluntary Severance Scheme, Job Descriptions and Organisational Structure, work force planning; conduct awareness campaigns regarding changes and issues relating to human resource and perform any other duty or task assigned by the FBR Chairman.