FBR to purchase over 1000 new vehicles for young employees

ISLAMABAD: Despite stern opposition from the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is pressing forward with a plan to purchase over 1,000 new vehicles for its officers.

The FBR chief, Rashid Mahmood Langrial, insisted that these vehicles are required for revenue collection by the new officers for the purposes of tax collection and attainment of the revenue target set for the FBR in 2023-2024.

He elaborated that the officers need proper transport to collect sales tax, as they cannot do so without physically accessing the sites. A vehicle acquisition of 1,010 cars at a cost of Rs6 billion was questioned by the Senate’s standing committee of finance which directed the FBR to stop this process due to a Rs386 billion shortfall in revenue target.

Langrial asserted that he would purchase the vehicles because they were needed for filing taxes by FBR officers. He further addressed issues raised by the standing committee as procedural and not concerning the purchase per se. The board will look into these procedural points and respond to them appropriately.

Langrial also talked about renewing the installation of a container tracking system on trucks moving from Pakistan ports to factories and to Afghanistan. He clarified that the system had not been scrapped but was to be modernized, with the new tracking system expected to be launched within two to three months.

The upcoming system will have tracking sensors on both vehicles and containers, making the goods delivery system more robust, transparent, and safe. The FBR has received the tenders for the new system and the names of the new applicants are to be announced soon by the DG.