NADRA asks business community to co-operate in tax broadening

By Asad Cheema

ISLAMABAD: Chairman National Registration and Database Authority (NADRA) Lt. Gen. Muhammad Munir Afsar here on Monday said that his organization and FBR are in collaboration to expand the tax base and register new taxpayers to improve the tax revenue of the country. Talking to a delegation of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), he called upon the business community to cooperate in such efforts.
Munir Afsar briefed the business community about the key initiatives of NADRA to facilitate the citizens. He said that NADRA e-Sahulat is a low-cost e-services platform, which provides a secure payment and collection facility to the citizens. This network consists of over 17,000 active franchisees connected with telcos and banks and employing thousands of youths besides adding revenue to retailers’ income.
Speaking on the occasion,
President ICCI Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, President, lauded the efforts of NADRA to promote digitalization in Pakistan. He said that NADRA has already set up its Facilitation Desks in Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry to provide its services to the business community and NADRA should also set up its Facilitation Desk in ICCI so that ICCI members can avail NADRA’s services under one roof in Chamber.
He said that FBR is putting more burden on the existing taxpayers and assured that the business community would cooperate to broaden the tax base. Faad Waheed, Senior Vice President ICCI proposed that NADRA to maintain a database of suppliers and vendors that would help in promoting business activities. Engineer Azhar ul Islam Zafar, Vice President of ICCI said that Pakistan needs to promote e-governance to provide efficient services to the citizens, and the role of NADRA in realizing this goal is very important.