Revenue Mobilisation

Revenue Mobilisation by Investment and Trade Programme (REMIT)

Introduction

REMIT is committed to improving revenue mobilisation in Pakistan by enhancing the institutional capacity of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and reducing tax compliance difficulties for taxpayers. Despite the potential for revenue mobilisation in Pakistan, the FBR and taxpayers face various challenges, and REMIT aims to address these through its technical support.

Achievements

Our notable achievements include:

  • Institutional Capacity Building and Strategic Reform: Review and finalisation of the Inland Revenue Strategic Reform Plan (2021-25) to improve tax compliance and administration, build institutional capacity and strengthen the legislative framework of FBR.
  • Developing Revenue and Economy-wide Impact Models: Developing revenue and economy-wide impact multiplier models to assess budget recommendations.
  • Trade Facilitation and Border Crossings: Comprehensive mapping of all informal border crossings across Pakistan’s western border to identify 22 potential formal border crossing points. This will help reduce the trade facilitation gap and create substantial economic opportunities for local residents who lost their livelihoods due to physical fencing.
  • Sales Tax Harmonisation: Review of federal and provincial policies and legal documents concerning sales taxes in Pakistan, identifying obstacles to sales tax harmonisation. Through negotiation workshops held with leadership from revenue agencies, REMIT was successful in aligning various procedures of provinces through Finance Act, achieving an estimated 45% of sales tax harmonisation.
  • Empowering Female Taxpayers: Training female tax facilitators on the tax registration/filing process to help female taxpayers improve compliance.
  • TA and Support for Tax Compliance Improvement: Currently, REMIT is providing technical assistance and support for improving Track and Trace and Point of Sale systems, digital invoicing, and the national database integration for enhancing tax compliance. The programme is also supporting the development of cross-cutting and sector-level budget proposals, along with conducting a review of FBR’s business processes to improve automation.

Updates