POS integrated invoices climbs 26 percent to 48 million in March: FBR

ISLAMABAD: The invoices issued by tier-1 retailers integrated with the Point of Sale (POS) system surged to 48 million during the month of March 2022 against the integration of 38 million in February, depicting an increase of 26.32 percent.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in a tweet on Wednesday said, “The verified invoices rose to 410,000 in March when compared to 260,000 in February.” The board said that 48,000 individuals who shopped from outlets integrated with FBR POS System verified invoices in March compared to 39,000 in February 2022, showing a huge trust in the revenue board.
The ongoing campaign and the prize scheme continued to gain momentum as numbers kept growing up. It was a phenomenal increase in public participation and expressed the hope that it was likely to grow further with every passing day, according to the recently released Monthly Economic Update and Outlook for March 2022.
It is pertinent to mention here that FBR had launched an intensive awareness campaign on the mainstream national media to educate and engage consumers 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 1,007 lucky winners through a transparent computerized ballot being held on 15th of every month at FBR Headquarters, Islamabad. As a result of strong enforcement by FBR Field Formations across Pakistan, out of around 4200 identified as Tier-1 Retailers, over 3600 have already integrated their business operations with FBR POS System, according to the report.
Their 17,000 outlets with over 19,500 cash counters are fully integrated with POS system which lends FBR the facility to digitally monitor their sales and thus ensure that Sales Tax being collected from customers is being actually deposited into state exchequer, without fail, it added.
Meanwhile, FBR is all set to launch yet another out of box digital intervention for Broadening of Tax Base. The FBR has already collected information from various sources about the assets and expenditures of persons who are outside the tax net. This information would be made available to such persons through FBR’s “Tax Asaan” Portal.
The board has taken a further initiative to ensure facilitation in the filing of a tax return by new taxpayers for Broadening of Tax Base by signing a memorandum of understanding with the Pakistan Tax Bar during the first week of February. – TLTP