FBR swings into action over 29,000 fake invoices of sales tax

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has swung into action over 29,000 fake invoices of sales tax and decided to take strict action against the responsible persons.

FBR had received 4 million invoices in a month after the awareness campaign encompassing a prize scheme gained popularity among the nationals. It was learnt that the 29,000 sales tax invoices received by FBR in January turned out to be fake.

According to FBR, in January, FBR has witnessed that over 153,000 invoices were verified by customers who shopped from outlets integrated with FBR POS System as against 45,000 in December when the campaign was launched.

Likewise, around 37 million invoices were issued by Tier-1 Retailers which are integrated with the FBR POS System in January as compared to 33 Million in December 2021, registering a steady growth of 4 million.

Send Sales Tax Receipts to FBR, Get Prizes of Millions Every Month

The number of customers has jumped from 10,000 to 27,000 within one month who successfully verified their invoices. However, 29,000 invoices issued by Tier-1 Retailers couldn’t be verified which are presumably fake.

The FBR statement read, “This is a phenomenal increase in public participation and is likely to further grow with every passing day. The second computerized ballot is to be held on 15th February (Tuesday evening) at FBR Headquarters, Islamabad. It is so why reassuring to see that people at large are excited to engage in this exercise.”

Earlier on January 15, FBR Chairman Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed had appealed to the Pakistani citizens to launch a national movement for the promotion of a culture of tax compliance in the country. He made the while addressing the participants present during the first computerised draw of the POS Prize Scheme held at FBR headquarters.

FBR surpasses seven-month target of revenue collection

POS: key intervention

Point-of-System is one key intervention that aims to monitor sales made by Tier-1 Retailers across Pakistan which aims to monitor sales made by Tier-1 Retailers across Pakistan.

POS is amongst various innovative initiatives launched by FBR to maximise tax compliance through digitisation of business transactions, automation of its operations and facilitation of taxpayers.

FBR has launched an aggressive awareness campaign on national media to educate and engage consumers in order to ensure that tax collected from them at the point of sale is deposited into the state exchequer and not pocketed by the retailers themselves.

The campaign also encompasses a prize scheme worth Rs53 Million to be disbursed among 1007 lucky winners through a transparent computerised ballot to be held on the 15th of every month at FBR headquarters in Islamabad.