ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to ensure a third party audit of the ongoing tax reforms, emphasising that the measures were aimed at strengthening the country’s development.

Chairing a review meeting on FBR reforms, the prime minister underscored the need for transparency, effectiveness and sustainability in the reform process. Officials briefed the meeting that digitalisation, production monitoring and automated systems formed the core pillars of the reforms.

An official statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said Mr Sharif instructed the authorities concerned to implement reformative measures within the stipulated timeframe and to intensify enforcement against tax evasion, smuggling and illegal businesses.

The premier instructed that the implementation of reforms should be ensured to modernise and strengthen the tax system, increase revenue collection, and completely eradicate smuggling.

The meeting was given a detailed briefing on the ongoing reforms in the FBR, particularly the restructuring of PRAL, the digitalisation of the tax system, and the measures taken to curb smuggling.

The meeting was informed that step-by-step work was underway on IRIS 3.0, a new tax operating model, and a central data hub to make the tax system modern, integrated, and data-driven, as international consultants have also been hired to design IRIS 3.0.

It was further informed that swift work was underway on a project under IRIS 3.0 to make the tax system more effective, pilot auto-taxation, and utilise artificial intelligence and machine learning in the future to improve tax collection.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2026