• FBR ready to consider super tax recoveries on a case-to-case basis, Senate panel told
• Aurangzeb says IMF mission due by month end, external financing needs fully covered.
• Reveals discussions underway with UAE; currency notes being changed

ISLAMABAD: Ahead of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) review mission’s planned visit this month, the government has hinted at the recovery of around Rs217 billion super tax arrears in instalments to facilitate businesses, and changing all currency notes.

Testifying before the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Wednesday, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Rashid Mahmood Langrial expressed willingness to collect super tax arrears in instalments and clarified that the pending tax recoverable following the Supreme Court (SC) judgement in government favour was Rs217bn, not Rs300bn as speculated.

The FBR chairman said the government did not want business closures for tax recoveries and would be ready to consider super tax recoveries on a case-to-case basis. He said the tax machinery would ensure that the apex court did not create any problem. The super tax was initially imposed in 2015 for one year and later increased and continued till now. Some businesses had secured stay orders through high courts but the SC finally concluded the matter last month, upholding the executive’s inherent powers to impose taxes and ordering all pending recoveries.

The lawmakers were given the assurance after they voiced concerns over the ‘sudden tax burden’ on businesses, which could see closure or flight to other countries. The senators told the FBR chairman that the business community and the chambers of commerce and industry had already expressed serious concerns over the issue.

They claimed old taxpayers were being harassed in the name of super tax recoveries and being threatened with freezing of accounts and arrests. They advocated that the taxpayers and businessmen sho­u­ld not be harassed and instead be facilitated thro­ugh gradual recoveries over two to three years at least.

‘Felicitation messages’

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said the FBR had effectively controlled smuggling and revenue theft and insisted that FBR messages for recovery of taxes did not breach taxpayers’ financial privacy. He disclosed that he also received FBR’s SMS in personal capacity and found nothing objectionable. He said there should not be an issue with SMS as long as it was delivered to the intended taxpayer, which was not violation of personal data.

On this, the FBR chief explained that messages were sent to relevant taxpayers only. “We send congratulation message to the taxpayer on purchase of plot and only ask its inclusion in the tax return,” he remarked. He claimed, “Such messages increased the number of filers of tax returns by a million and the number of taxpayers showing zero income has dropped.”

The finance minister reminded the senators that the country could not move forward and grow without a sustainable tax-to-GDP ratio and this had nothing to do with the IMF. “We did not appeal for global support following recent floods because we had additional financial cushion to absorb the shock,” he elaborated. He later told journalists that third IMF review was already scheduled for end of February.

Mr Aurangzeb said Pakistan’s external financing needs were fully covered and discussions were in progress with the UAE in this regard. He said the inaugural Panda Bond in the Chinese capital market was planned within the first quarter of the year. The government has been targeting the bond before close of December 2025, but delays followed regulatory approvals in the target market.

NFC discussions

Responding to a question on delays in National Finance Commission (NFC) discussions, the minister said the subgroups of the commission were necessary for the NFC to be called, adding that one of eight groups led by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Muzammil Aslam and another led by himself (Aurangzeb) had held one meeting each and meetings of three other groups had been called for next week. Once four to five groups conclude, the next NFC meeting would be convened immediately. “We earnestly want to take the NFC discussions forward,” he said.

The Senate committee, led by former PPP finance minister Saleem Mand­viwalla, decided to convene an in-camera session to discuss corruption and leakages in the tax system, following a proposal by the FBR chairman.

The committee chairman noted that sensitive details regarding systemic weaknesses would be shared behind closed doors.

New currency note designs

Separately, the committee was briefed by the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan on the proposed new designs of currency notes ranging from Rs10 to Rs5,000. He confirmed that enhanced security features had been incorporated and categorically ruled out any proposal to discontinue Rs5,000 note. The new designs have been approved by the SBP Board and forwarded to the federal cabinet, which will take the final decision.

An in-camera briefing on the new currency designs would be held in a committee meeting soon.

The committee strongly criticised the practice of commercial banks charging additional fees for SMS alerts and other customer services, recommending that such charges be discontinued. The SBP governor claimed the matter belonged to the customers and the banks through “bilateral consent”.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2026