By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) continuing with monthly computer ballot for its innovative POS Prize Scheme, has successfully organized fourth successive lucky draw at FBR Headquarters Islamabad, this afternoon. In addition to 1007 lucky winners winning prizes worth 53 Million, another 10 individuals won prize of Rs.100,000 each, sponsored by Metro Stores Pakistan for its valued customers. This has taken the winners list to 1017, winning prizes worth Rs.54 Million. Addressing on the occasion, Chairman FBR/ Secretary Revenue Division, Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed reiterated that for the past few years, FBR had been vigorously pursuing its drive for digitization, transparency, and automation not only to document the economy but also to plug revenue leakages through a transparent tax system. He further emphasized that FBR will continue to maximize tax compliance through various innovative initiatives including POS Invoicing Prize Scheme. The annual business turnover of retail sector in Pakistan was about Rs. 20 Trillion but only around 20% was visible to FBR for tax compliance. This innovative Prize Scheme was launched to digitally monitor the sales made by Tier-1 Retailers across Pakistan to ensure that tax collected from customers was safely deposited into state exchequer, he concluded.
It is pertinent to mention here that in March 4, 10,000 invoices were verified while in February 2022 about 2, 60,833 invoices were verified by customers who shopped from outlets integrated with FBR POS System. Likewise, over 48.1 Million invoices were issued in March against 38 Million invoices issued in February 2022 by Tier-1 Retailers which are integrated with FBR POS System. The number of customers has also jumped from 39,000 in February to over 48000 in March who successfully verified their invoices. This is a phenomenal increase in public participation and is likely to further grow with every passing day.
Furthermore, FBR has already distributed prizes worth Rs.160 million among 3031 lucky winners in three computerized ballots held in a transparent manner on 15th of January, February & March, 2022. More than half of the fortunate winners have already got the prize money transferred into their bank accounts. It is also worth sharing that people are showing a lot of interest in becoming part of this computerized draw, which is being regularly held on 15th of every month in the presence of mainstream national media.
It is quite reassuring to share that out of around 4200 identified as Tier-1 Retailers, over 3600 have already integrated their business operations with FBR’s POS System. Their 17000 outlets with over 19500 cash counters are fully integrated with POS System.
