People will pay federal taxes and customs duties through internet banking
State Bank of Pakistan, Federal Board of Revenue and 1-Link have signed an agreement to pay their t taxes and customs duty using internet banking or ATMs by the end of 2017.
The facility will be available any time round the clock. As the banks will add Inland Revenue and Customs as billers in the ‘Billers Module’ and develop necessary interface with 1-Link.
The agreement signing ceremony was attended by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Advisor to the Prime Minister on Revenue Humayun Akhtar Khan at Islamabad.
According to the details, once the system is made operational, the whole process will be online and fully automated.
The tax payers, importers will need to fill their tax and custom duty payment details in the FBR (IRS) and Customs (WeBOC) online modules to generate payment slip ID (PSID).
The PSID will then approach to access the tax or duty payment details on bank’s webpage or ATM as the case may be. The tax payer or their agent will then pay the tax by debiting his/her bank account for onward credit to the respective government account in SBP BSC.
The SBP also gave instructions to the banks to add FBR and Customs in the Bill Payment System offered by 1-link and develop necessary integration with 1-link within two months.
The system is expected to be made operational by end of this year after necessary testing. The banks have been advised to demonstrate full ownership and commitment for successful and timely implementation of this project.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on the occasion congratulated SBP and FBR and expressed hope that all the formalities would be completed at the earliest and that the system would be operational by 31st December, 2017.
SBP Governor Tariq Bajwa said that the initiative is part of SBP Vision 2020, which envisages development of a robust payment system and is primarily aimed at facilitating tax payers and the public at large in payment of taxes.
The Chairman FBR, Mr. Tariq Mehmood Pasha on the occasion said that the project is the result of collaboration and cooperation between FBR, SBP and the private sector and will go a long way in further improving the government tax collection systems.