Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Amjad Zubair Tiwana tendered his resignation to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, sources said on Wednesday. According to insiders, Tiwana had requested the Prime Minister's Secretariat to remove him from the FBR chief post and sent his resignation two days after waiting. The FBR chairman also consulted with more than two cabinet members before resigning from his post, said the sources, adding that the members asked Tiwana to resign. The sources said that Tiwana had met Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and PM’s close aide on Establishment Division Ahad Cheema and informed him verbally that he could not continue to head the FBR. Sources said that the senior officers of the tax collecting body did not cooperate with Tiwana. They added that there are more than 21 officers in the FBR who are senior that the chairman.

Tiwana, who is considered close to Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, was appointed during the caretaker government, said the sources. The FBR chairman — who is an Inland Revenue Service (IRS) officer in grade 21 — was going to retire from the service in February 2025. Top official sources close to the PM’s office confirmed that the pace of reforms, including digitalisation, in the FBR was not desirable. The FBR high-ups told that the tax officers made all-out efforts to convince Tiwana for not sending his request to the government for relieving his charge but he refused. Sources close to the FBR chairman say that the tax machinery fetched Rs9,311 billion revenue during the last fiscal year by achieving 30% growth in revenues despite difficult economic environment. Tiwana had to face criticism on the issue of digitisation and bifurcation between IRS and Customs groups.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan