The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has assured the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of a robust crackdown on tax evasion, particularly targeting Pakistan’s retail, real estate, and corporate sectors. This commitment comes as part of the government’s efforts to meet the IMF’s requirements under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement, according to the IMF’s latest review report.
The FBR plans to leverage its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to identify high-risk taxpayers in these sectors. The strategy includes increasing the number of auditors to strengthen enforcement, reduce tax evasion, and maintain targeted mass notification campaigns to encourage compliance.
In addition, the government aims to expand the integrated Point-of-Sale (POS) system to include more retailers, closely monitor import declarations—especially those from importers with suspicious patterns—and intensify anti-smuggling operations to boost revenue collection.
A special focus has been placed on the informal tobacco market, where the government intends to conduct comprehensive audits of acetate tow imports, a key raw material for cigarette production, to prevent misclassification under incorrect HS codes. New measures will require the use of bonded warehouses for these imports, restrict acetate tow imports to registered tobacco and filter manufacturers, and ban the transit of acetate tow to Afghanistan.
To further strengthen revenue administration, the government will continue rolling out its track-and-trace system to monitor production, escalate anti-smuggling campaigns, and reinforce checkpoint operations, particularly in the northwestern regions of the country.
