ISLAMABAD: Data sharing and analytics play a key role in identifying tax evaders and broadening the tax base, said Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Jehanzeb Khan on Tuesday.

Mr Khan was speaking at the First Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Workshop organised by the FBR in collaboration with the World Bank.

He suggested aligning big data and data sciences through integration to broaden the tax base and help identify tax evaders.

He also called for integration and sharing of data possessed by various departments — currently being used for their own purposes — onto a single platform.

“The first step is to understand what data is available and then work on a plan for sharing this data amongst all stakeholders,” he said, adding that there was a need to ascertain what protocols would be required and challenges must be overcome in order to achieve the desired goals and objectives.

The workshop was conducted to bring all public sector organisations on a single platform to identify ways for assisting each other and benefitting from the available data sources to boost revenue generation and increase resource mobilisation.

He disclosed that the FBR is developing an ICT Strategy Document to address development needs for the next three years.

In addition to that, he said that the board is also preparing a prospective ICT plan for the next decade. “A systematic plan with a clear roadmap will help identify what skill sets are to be learnt and what resources are required for the purpose,” he added.

He said that this workshop would go a long way in finding ways for acquiring and sharing big data for analytics, business intelligence and documentation of economy and ways for overcoming challenges in digital progress.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2018