May 14, 2006	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1427

ISLAMABAD, May 13: The Central Board of Revenue has decided to restructure and reorganise the Directorates General of Training and Research (DGTR) on functional lines in accordance with the best international practices.

The decision came up at the conclusion of a two-day conference of senior customs, sales tax, federal excise and income tax officers to formulate an integrated training strategy for tax functionaries of the country. The conference presided over by Mohammad Talha, CBR member, human resource management.

The conference worked out a strategy for imparting training to tax collectors to meet the challenges of the reformed CBR and equip them with adequate knowledge, skills and abilities to serve taxpayers, accelerate the pace of revenue collection and promote tax culture in the country.

It was decided that both the tax streams of direct and indirect taxes would share resources, infrastructure and faculty to impart meaningful and target-oriented training to tax officers in order to achieve cost effectiveness and avoid duplication of efforts. In this context, it was decided that common management training programmes would be launched at various training campuses for officers of direct and indirect taxes.

The conference also decided to post highly qualified and competent tax officers with unblemished record in the training institutes. Faculty posted in training institutes will be offered attractive financial benefits and incentives. In addition to faculty, a state-of-the-art infrastructure video conferencing will be installed at the training institutes.

It was also decided that both customs and income tax academies would seek affiliation with the world acclaimed foreign training institutions of other customs and tax administrations to get benefit from their resources and experiences.