The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has established a National Faceless Centre (NFC) in Islamabad to shift tax audits and assessments to a centralized digital system.
The new setup is part of Pakistan’s New Tax Operating Model and is designed to reduce direct interaction between taxpayers and tax officials while limiting individual discretion in tax cases. The government had approved the model in principle in June.
Under the new mechanism, audit cases will be identified through a computerized, risk-based process instead of being selected by individual tax officers.
Once selected, cases will be automatically assigned to officers located anywhere in the country. The taxpayer will not be informed about the identity of the officer handling the case, while the officer will have no control over which cases are assigned to them.
The process will also separate the main stages of a tax case. One officer will conduct the audit, another will prepare the assessment, and a third will review the work before an order is issued.
This means a single officer will no longer control a taxpayer’s case from the audit stage through to the final decision.
Taxpayers will receive notices, submit responses, and attend hearings electronically through the FBR’s IRIS system. Physical verification or recovery, where legally required, will be handled separately by field teams.
The Finance Bill also provides a legal framework for faceless audits, assessments and appeals.
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