ISLAMABAD (November 27 2005): The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has created new posts of 'senior tax officials' within the Directorate-General of Intelligence and Investigation, Customs and Excise, Islamabad, for setting up of an independent 'Vigilance Unit'.
The issue came to limelight on the first day of CBR workshop on 'Strategic Reform Process' at Bhurban on Saturday.
CBR Chairman Abdullah Yusuf and his team of tax managers convened the meeting to discuss issues relating to the implementation of the reform process. The representative of World Bank (WB) and Senior Executive Vice President of Habib Bank Zafar Aziz Osmani also participated.
During the workshop, it was decided that one post of BS-19 and two posts of BS-18 will be created in the Directorate-General of Intelligence and Investigation to man the 'Vigilance Unit'.
Member Tax Policy and Reforms (TPR) Khawaja Tanveer Ahmed and D.G. Intelligence and Investigation informed the meeting that the main purpose of establishing 'vigilance units' for all taxes was to have a centralised place for controlling tax fraud cases with the help of tax officials and concerned agencies. The purpose of creating this unit was to keep an eye on CBR employees and handle complaints of corruption lodged against tax officials.
While reviewing measures to accelerate the reform process, CBR Chairman directed Member Human Resource Management (HRM) and Member TPR to speed up the plan for rollout of the regional tax offices.
The Conference also focused on measures to improve transparency and integrity of tax administration, re-organisation of CBR on functional lines.
Officials said that the workshop also examined International Monetary Fund (IMF) working paper on revenue administration reforms in Middle East countries during 1994-2004. Tax managers examined international donors' reports on tax administration reform in different countries to follow best international practices to broaden the tax base.
On the second day of the workshop, participants would continue discussion on various reform projects and focus on reorganisation of CBR on functional lines, measures to improve transparency and integrity of tax administration, workforce planning for RTOs and World Bank recommendations on raising Tax-GDP ratio.
The CBR has organised this workshop to analyse international donors' viewpoint on the ongoing reform process, particularly relating to the RTOs.
