A fully automated and online process has been signed for the payment of FBR taxes. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and 1-Link has signed an agreement for the development of a mechanism enabling the public for payment of FBR tax and customs duty through ATMs.
The signing ceremony held on Monday was chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
The facility would be available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. FBR (Inland Revenue) and FBR (Customs) will be added to Banks as billers and billers module.
The necessary interface will also be developed between banks and 1-Link. When the system is made operational the taxpayers and importers will have to fill their tax and customs duty payment details in the FBR (IRS) and Customs (WeBOC) online modules to get payment slip ID (PSID) generated.
After that, the PSID will be used to access the tax or duty payment details on banks’ web page or ATM.
Then the taxpayer or their agent will pay the tax by debiting the bank account for onward credit to the respective govt account in SBP BSC.
The SBP has advised banks to add FBR and Customs as billers in the Bill Payment System offered by 1-link. They have been also directed to develop necessary integration with 1-link within two months.
The system will be operational after necessary testing, by December 31 this year.
For a successful and timely implementation of this project, banks have been advised to demonstrate full ownership and commitment.
The project will bring huge efficiency gains besides facilitating the public in hassle-free payment of govt taxes and duties.
Dar congratulated SBP and FBR on the occasion and hoped the fulfillment of all the formalities soon.
31st December 2017 is the expected day of becoming the system operational.
The governor of SBP said that the initiative is the part of SBP Vision 2020. The vision 2020 envisages the development of the robust payment system and the initiative is primarily aiming at the facilitation of the taxpayers and public at large in payment of taxes.
