ISLAMABAD - The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has selected 93,277 tax cases for audit through computerised ballot.

Parametric computer ballot as per Audit Policy 2016 was held on Thursday for selection of cases for audit for tax year 2015 and tax period July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015 in respect of income tax, sales tax and federal excise duty. Federal Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar also attended the ceremony.

Out of the total returns filed, the FBR selected 7.5 percent cases for audit for tax year 2015. Total 93,277 cases have been selected for audit in respect of six categories. The break-up showed that 2,173 cases of income tax (corporate) and 82,090 cases of income tax (non-corporate) were selected. Similarly, 987 cases of sales tax (corporate) and 7976 cases of sales tax (non-corporate) were selected. Meanwhile, 51 cases were selected from FED.

While speaking on the occasion, the finance minister said that the government is committed to stop tax evasion in the country, adding that the government would facilitate the existing taxpayers. “The government can take access about Pakistani tax evaders anywhere in the world after signing the convention on Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),” he added. He warned tax evaders to pay their due taxes, otherwise they would face the music.

He hoped that parliament would soon approve the Companies Act, 2016, which forced companies’ holders to maintain their global assets. He said that some of the stakeholders are trying to stop the approval of the bill by using political influences. “The stakeholders would be given an opportunity to bring their matters in the right directions under the companies ordinance”, he added.

Sharing economic achievements of the government, Dar said that tax collection had shown growth of 60 percent in last three and half years, which was around three percent during the tenure of the previous government. He vowed to improve the country’s exports and growth in agriculture and services sectors of the country.

The finance minister said that loadshedding has been reduced to four hours only, from 16-20 hours a day in 2013. He informed that the government is working on power generation projects, which would help in resolving the power crisis till 2018. Similarly, the socio economic condition of the country has also improved as compared to the time when incumbent government took charge in June 2013, he added. He said, “Still, there is lot of work to be done in order to bring the country among top 18 countries by 2030s”. Earlier, speaking at the occasion, Minister of State for Revenue Haroon Akhtar Khan said that without audit, self assessment schemes could not be successful. He said the balloting was totally computerised and there was no chance of any mismanagement.

FBR Chairman Nisar Muhammad Khan said that in order to promote tax culture and compliance, many audit policies were launched in the past but the latest policy that was approved a few days ago had been carefully drafted keeping in mind the wisdom and experience derived from the past policies.

Nisar said the Audit policy, 2016 had proposed a paradigm shift from random ballot to parametric selection and risk based approach. “This approach would minimise chances of selection of compliant tax payers resulting in increased confidence in the system”, he added.

Representatives of Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Institute of Charted Accountant of Pakistan (ICAP), Pakistan Tax Bars Association, Pakistan Tax Advisors Association and Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry were also present on the occasion.