Islamabad: Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif chaired the weekly review meeting on FBR reforms here and directed a third party audit of reforms to bring transparency, effectiveness, and sustainability to the process, saying that digitalisation, production monitoring, and automated systems were key pillars of the reforms. During the meeting, the PM , who was briefed on the restructuring of Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL) said that the government’s efforts to introduce tax reforms were aimed at the development of the country.
He said that the deployment of reputed goods evaluators in the FBR was a welcome step and appreciated the efforts of the board’s chairman and his team in this regard. He also said that reforms should be implemented to modernise and strengthen the tax system, increase revenue collection, and completely eradicate smuggling. Participants at the meeting were given a detailed briefing on the ongoing FBR reforms, particularly the restructuring of PRAL, the digitalisation of the tax system, and the measures taken to curb smuggling.
The PM was informed that international consultants have also been hired to help design IRIS 3.0, a new tax operating model, and a central data hub to make the tax system modern, integrated, and data-driven. Swift work was underway on a project under IRIS 3.0 to make the tax system more effective. This included measures such as pilot auto-taxation and utilising artificial intelligence and machine learning in the future to improve tax collection. The participants were told that new senior level appointments have been made in PRAL across various sectors, including technology, data security, operations, and the tax domain.
Regarding the positive impacts of faceless assessments in the customs sector, the PM was told that from January to June 2026, there was a 12 percent increase in average revenue per Goods Declarations (GD), and that the system has helped improve the identification and monitoring of import irregularities. The government is currently recruiting 280 Goods Evaluators and a Central Assessment Unit will be operational by December 31, 2026, as an interim arrangement, before the department becomes fully functional in a new administrative complex by June 2027.
He was informed that in July 2025, transactions worth PKR 236 billion took place through digital invoicing, which increased revenue to PKR 2.5 trillion in July 2026, with a target of PKR 4 trillion set for December this year.
Regarding the prevention of smuggling, the PM was told that several measures have been taken to prevent the illegal movement of petroleum products, including global satellite tagging of all legal petrol pumps, tracking petroleum products through GPS and connecting the ERP system of oil marketing companies with the tracker, and a central tracking application for law enforcement agencies. Through the Rahguzar app, 2,500 illegal petrol pumps were closed down, and legal action was initiated and digital monitoring of the sale of petroleum products and other measures were also being implemented.
