The Islamabad Excise and Taxation Department has found a new way of generating revenues: by facilitating the public.

In FY 2020-21, the department earned Rs8.18 billion for the national exchequer, approximately Rs2.5 billion more than its target set for the year.

According to director Bilal Azam, the revenue was generated by a number of initiatives introduced in favour of people in the city, which have subsequently resulted in a huge inflow in the department’s kitty as well.

An addition to these initiatives was made on Friday. The people of Islamabad can now pay taxes on their vehicles at public parks. The facility will be provided by two mobile vehicles of the department from 5pm to 7pm. The service has initially been launched at the Katchnar Park in I-8, F-9 Park, Rose and Jasmine Garden, Aabpara, F-6’s Shalimar Cricket Ground, and Trail-3.

The department will soon introduce this facility at Centaurus Mall as well.

It will soon sign an MoU with the Islamabad Club too after which a sub-office will be set up in the club. No extra service fee would be charged from members.

Earlier, a biometric verification system for the registration and transfer of the ownership of vehicles was launched by the department. Door-to-door registration of vehicles is another such initiative introduced by the department. Applicants can call NADRA centres to avail the service.

Online verification of registration documents, the establishment of accessible information desks, and setting up complaint cells are some other initiatives that have been taken so far by the department.

The idea behind these initiatives is to facilitate the general public as much as possible and enable them to pay the taxes happily, Azam said.

He revealed that that the biometric for vehicles is available at 32,000 NADRA Sahulat Centres across the country.

A two-month expiry period has been set for biometric verification, Azam said, adding that this has resulted in an increase in revenues for the department. Once the expiry period has passed, applicants will have to pay a fine of Rs2,000.

“Let’s suppose that if earlier 200 vehicles were being transferred, now 1,000 vehicles are being transferred because of the new initiatives,” the director added.

The story has been written by Qadir Tanoli, an Islamabad-based journalist.



source https://www.samaa.tv/news/2021/07/islamabad-taxation-department-generating-massive-revenues-by-facilitating-public/