KARACHI, Jan 13: The Medium Taxpayers Unit (MTU), Karachi, has started full-fledged operations. The function of the unit will ensure minimum direct contact between taxpayers and tax officials.

The unit housed on 6th and 7th floor of the Income Tax Building is being headed by an officer of commissioner level.

The two floors of the building, which has been renamed 'Income Tax House', are giving totally a different look, but a lot has yet to be seen in the coming days about its working and public dealing.

Despite the fact that the Central Board of Revenue has spent substantial funds for giving an excellent interior look to these floors by engaging NESPAK in the work, all will depend on the 'mindset' of the people working there and how they upgrade their skills to meet the challenges of corporate culture.

Contrary to the past practice of geographical or territorial working of zones and circles, each division will deal with a particular subject and its working will remain restricted to that specific area.

It has becomes more challenging when the CBR as a policy matter based its revenue collection on 'voluntary compliance' by abolishing the orthodox method of taking coercive measures through notices and freezing of accounts of defaulters. The old system did not only promoted and encouraged corruption, but also scared away majority of taxpayers.

The MTU Karachi is the largest unit among all other medium units presently working at Lahore, Quetta and Rawalpindi. It is dealing with 225,000 taxpayers mainly belonging to salaried class. Around 25,000 taxpayers belong to small businesses and industry and professionals like doctors, engineers, etc.

While approaching the floors of MTU one could still see the old culture of working environment which reflects typical 'Babu and Munshi culture' of yester years. It would be more appropriate if the CBR moves forward and defeats those who are still resisting the change.

Besides spending huge amount of funds on furniture and fixtures, the CBR should also invest heavily on human development skills in order to ensure required change in the mindset and skills of the people working in MTUs. And this exercise should not be restricted to officers only.

The MTU Karachi has staff strength of 100 and is headed by Income Tax Commissioner M. Anwar Goraya. He is assisted by six additional commissioners and 21 taxation officers and support staff.

There is a spacious waiting area at the entrance of 6th floor with a reception counter to guide taxpayers. Potable water and tea are also available for taxpayers waiting to see the relevant officer. This floor is also known as 'business area'. It has nine small cubicles where proceedings are conducted in easy and transparent manner.

The 7th floor is known as 'operational area' where all officers and their support staff sit to back up the business area. This area is not for general public or taxpayers.

As the working of MTU is functional based, it has five major divisions that are responsible for separate functions. There is an information processing division responsible for record keeping and is also headed by an officer of commissioner level.

Similarly, the enforcement division is responsible for recovery of taxes, refunds and maintaining of withholding taxes and conducting survey which may be internal or external.

The audit division looks after amendments of assessments and gives appeal effect and audit. The legal division deals with matters pertaining to the Federal Ombudsman Office and the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.

It is now up to the CBR to develop human skills and upgrade the system otherwise the entire fund of $250 million given by the World Bank for the restructuring of CBR will go down the drain.