GUJRAT: The alleged slow pace of the system of online payment of taxes to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is causing inconvenience for the taxpayers as the process usually takes hours in completing the process.

A number of tax filers complained about the slow pace of the online system, saying they either had to wait for the online receipt for hours in the bank or had to hand over the voucher and payments of the taxes to the bank staff that would often hand over the receipt in the evening or the next day.

Though there are five different branches of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) entitled to receive the federal government’s taxes in Gujrat city; however, more than 90pc of the taxpayers would deposit taxes with the main branch of the bank located along GT Road near Servis Industries.

The staff at the tax deposit counters at the main branch of the NBP would often face the wrath of the clients for being slow in completing the process of uploading the payment of taxes, said a staffer of the NBP. He added the taxpayers would often complain about the slowness of the FBR’s online payment system but very few of them could understand the process.

Upon which, he said, the staff usually returned the receipt in the evening before closure of the bank or the next day but this slow pace of the system had also been a cause of trouble for the bank staff as well as the clients since the staff had to complete the process even after the bank timings for which the staff would usually get stuck for two to three hours in the evening.

A local businessman, who would often visit the NBP for the payment of his taxes, said the tax watchdog and other government authorities should look into the matter and take measures in fixing the problem as process of tax payment should be made convenient for the taxpayer who had already been facing a number of problems in continuing with the business activities under critical economic conditions of Pakistan.

The bank staff and the tax filers urged the federal government and the FBR to take notice of the problem and resolve the issue.

PLRA: The Punjab land Record Authority (PLRA) has allowed a manual attendance of its staff across the province as a precautionary measure to save its staff from coronavirus.

The staff at the Arazi Record Centres (ARCs) and in PLRA headquarters Lahore has been directed by PLRA Director General Moazzam Sipra on Monday to not use the biometric machines for their attendance till April 5.

According to a handout issued by the PLRA, the staff at the ARCs had been directed to wear face masks while delivering the services to the clients whereas hand sanitisers had been provided at all the ARCs which clients would use. It said the measures had been taken for the wellbeing of clients as well as the staff of the Arazi Record Centres.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2020