FBR Plans Physical Surveys Of Selected Undocumented Sectors

Web Desk — The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) plans to conduct physical surveys of selected undocumented sectors as part of its new tax reform plan.

As part of the reform plan, the FBR will examine methods to verify the accuracy of informal economy reporting. As part of this reform action, FBR will identify ways in which income reporting can be verified for sectors that cannot be monitored remotely through POS, track and trace, or withholding taxes.

In modern tax administration, taxpayers are actively encouraged to comply as easily as possible. As we continue to expand our online services, we aim to simplify the online filing of tax forms, expand our electronic services, and work with tax advisors to support voluntary compliance. We will also introduce taxpayer surveys to find out what is working well and where we need to improve our service to taxpayers.

Tax advisors will help the FBR keep taxpayers up-to-date on changes in tax laws and procedures and build a more cordial relationship with them. Moreover, tax advisors will participate in well-designed and motivational training programs to inform them of IRS objectives of tax policy and how they might affect taxpayers, including common goals of increasing tax compliance.

As part of the FBR’s efforts, it will conduct taxpayer surveys to determine what taxpayers think about services and address system and software issues. Periodically, specially designed surveys will be conducted to gather taxpayers’ views and perceptions regarding the complexity, hurdles, and barriers to compliance, in addition to problems encountered in interactions with the tax administration, incidences of corruption, and the cost of compliance. Taxpayers’ feedback will be sought about specific components and processes of the IRS and used to generate actionable information for reform and process reengineering, the FBR said.