The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has called for income tax, sales tax, and federal excise duty proposals for the 2025-26 budget from Inland Revenue field formations as well as business and trade bodies. The aim is to address tax distortions, procedural issues, and anomalies.

On Wednesday, the FBR issued instructions to its field formations, announcing that it is seeking budget proposals for the upcoming fiscal year 2025-26, focusing on Income Tax, Sales Tax, Federal Excise Duty, and ICT Tax on Services under the 2001 ordinance.

In an effort to streamline the budget formulation process and ease procedural burdens, the FBR has decided to begin the budget process earlier than usual this year. The FBR intends to refine the Finance Bill 2025 by soliciting input from various stakeholders, leveraging their collective expertise to enhance tax policies.

The FBR is especially interested in suggestions related to:

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• Broadening of tax base for a wider participation in revenue generation efforts. 
• Policy suggestions for bringing entire value chain of all businesses in GST regime. 
• Promoting progressive taxation by introducing various measures where incidence of tax is higher on affluent classes. 
• Phasing out of tax concessions and exemptions under all tax laws. 
• Facilitation of taxpayers and ease of doing business by removal of redundancy and simplification of tax laws. 
• Measures to reduce tax arbitrage opportunities and infuse efficiency in economy by following neutrality principle in taxation.
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• Removal of tax distortions, procedural lapses and anomalies. 

The FBR has noted that these areas are illustrative and not exhaustive. It is seeking well-structured, implementable proposals that may require additions, deletions, or amendments to existing tax laws. All proposals must be submitted by January 31, 2025.

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