The provision for setting up a Board with the objective of separating tax policy formulation from tax administration is available in the amended Section 6 of the FBR Act 2007 however it was never activated.
Under section 6 (Establishment of Policy Board) of the Federal Board of Revenue Act 2007, the Federal Government may establish a Policy Board to provide guidance in matters relating to the vision, mission, and values of the Board, and to provide policy guidelines in framing fiscal policy and in achieving goals and targets. The Policy board shall consist of Members including Minister for Finance, Chairman; Minister for Commerce, Member; Minister for Industries, Member; Minister for Textile Industries, Member; Minister for privatization, Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance would be Member and other members as specified in the FBR Act. The Prime Minister can nominate any other member as per the Federal Board of Revenue Act 2007.
Federal Information Minister Fawad Hussain Chaudhry while addressing a press conference stated that the government has decided to set up a Tax Policy Board (TPB), in line with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) vision and a long standing demand of the business community. He added that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) would only be required to collect taxes once the Board has been established and would not take any policy decisions though one would assume that as a member of the Board Chairman FBR may provide valuable inputs as to the likelihood of meeting targets from any tax related decision taken by the Board.