In order to assist tax collection, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), at the request of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), has ordered banks to keep all permitted branches open on April 29 and 30, as well as to extend business hours.
According to a statement released by the SBP on Wednesday, all bank branches that are typically open on Saturdays—including National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) branches and SBP-BSC field offices—will be open this weekend to help people pay their taxes and duties.
In order to simplify tax collection using ADC’s Over-the-Counter (OTC) capability, the branches would also maintain extended business hours until 6 o’clock, it was noted.
In order to secure same-day clearing and settlement of payment instruments submitted at NBP’s licenced branches for customs collection, the SBP also instructed the National Institutional Facilitation Technologies (NIFT) to set up special clearings at 1pm on April 29 and 6pm on April 30.
All banks have been given the go-ahead by the central bank to maintain the opening hours of their clearing-related branches until it becomes necessary to do so in order to support the special clearings by NIFT this weekend.
A day earlier, Ishaq Dar, the finance minister, gave the FBR instructions to step up efforts to maximise the nation’s revenue potential.
The finance czar said this while presiding over a conference in Islamabad to assess the effectiveness of the tax agency.
Dar offered the FBR his unwavering support as it carried out its obligations to collect taxes.
FBR Chairman Asim Ahmad provided a thorough presentation on revenue goals and the FBR’s performance during the first nine months of the current fiscal year during the meeting. The FBR promised to exert every effort to reach its income goal in the remaining months of the current fiscal year.
On February 1, the FBR claimed that it had collected Rs3,965 billion in tax collection in seven months (July-Jan) period
