ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has launched a single identifier number for all domestic taxes.

An official announcement said that under this initiative a taxpayer can use all applications under the Income Tax, Sales Tax and Federal Excise Duty by mere use of the Computerised National Identity Card if he/she is an individual.

In case of partnership firms and companies, the National Tax Number (NTN) shall be the common tax identifier number. In this manner the Sales Tax, Income Tax and Federal Excise laws have been harmonised. This is an important step towards ease of doing business and it will substantially improve Pakistan’s rating on this count.

The FBR has also launched a facility whereby taxpayers can now make payments without visiting a bank branch. The facility is widely known as Alternate Delivery Channel (ADC) payment mode which allows the taxpayer to pay all federal taxes and duties i.e. Income Tax, Sales Tax, Customs Duty and Federal Excise Duty from any commercial bank account through internet banking, ATM, mobile banking and contact centers.

However, in the case of individual taxpayer, the alternate facility of making the payment over the counter has still been allowed simultaneously along with the ADC channel till Sept 30, 2021, so that no inconvenience is caused to the individual taxpayer for seamless filing of returns.

Published in Dawn, July 29th , 2021