Achieving yet another significant milestone towards automation and data integration in order to facilitate the taxpayers and the passengers flying in and out of the country, FBR has launched ‘Automated Currency Declaration System’.
Federal Minister for Finance & Revenue, Shaukat Fayaz Ahmed Tarin, presided over the launching ceremony at FBR (HQs), Islamabad as the Chief Guest. Chairman FBR/Secretary Revenue Division Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed, Chairman NADRA Mr. Tariq Malik and DG FIA Mr. Sanaullah Abbasi were present on the occasion.
Speaking to the august gathering comprising of all FBR Members, dignitaries, senior officers and media representatives, Finance Minister congratulated Chairman FBR and his team for making this long-awaited initiative possible in a short period of time.
He stated that the government was focusing on the documentation of economy to broaden the tax base. “This aim can only be achieved through the use of technology and automation with review of existing procedures and processes,” he remarked. He further added that Inter-agency coordination and cooperation was sine qua non for the success of all efforts of business process re-engineering and adoption of new framework for implementation of rules & regulations. “To achieve the goal of documentation of economy and to bring more transparency in the economic transactions, documentation of flow of foreign currency in and out of the country is pivotal,” he continued.
Presently, Currency Declarations (CDs) are obtained randomly from the passengers coming to or going out the country through Airports. Currency Declarations are manually secured in shape of hard copies and are then entered into the System manually in batches.
For millions of passengers coming in and going out from the country, it is an uphill task, especially, with very little resources in comparison with the challenges faced by Pakistan Customs and other Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs). Since the current Currency Declaration System (CDS) was not working to achieve the goal of complete documentation of foreign currency movement, a new system was envisaged by FBR.
This digital system was developed with the assistance of NADRA and FIA and will now be deployed at all International Airports, starting from Islamabad International Airport. “This new system will be a hassle free and time saving, one stop solution for all incoming and outgoing passengers,” Finance Minister remarked.
