The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has opened a National Faceless Centre in Islamabad, meaning taxpayers and tax officers will no longer have to deal with each other face-to-face during audits.

Under the new system, FBR will use computerized risk-based selection to pick tax cases and automatically assign them to officers.

The interesting part is that neither side will know who is handling the case.

Taxpayers will not be told the identity of the officer assigned to their case, while officers will have no say in choosing which taxpayers they audit.

FBR is also splitting the work between multiple officers. One officer will conduct the audit, another will prepare the assessment, and a third will review the case before the final order is issued.

In other words, one officer will no longer have the full journey of a tax case from audit to assessment.

Most communication will move online through FBR’s IRIS system. Taxpayers will receive notices, submit documents and responses, and attend hearings electronically rather than routinely visiting tax offices.

Physical verification or recovery work, where required, will continue to be handled separately by field teams.

The faceless model is part of FBR’s wider tax reform plan, which uses digital processes and automated case allocation to reduce direct interaction between taxpayers and tax officials.

So, for taxpayers, the new system essentially means less face-to-face FBR contact and more screens, notices and online replies.