The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has established the National Faceless Centre (NFC) under Pakistan’s new Tax Operating Model, introducing a centralised system for conducting tax audits and assessments without direct interaction between taxpayers and tax officials.
The initiative was approved in principle by the government in June and is aimed at reducing physical interaction between taxpayers and FBR officials as part of broader efforts to improve transparency and limit opportunities for corruption.
According to the FBR, the Board in Council, headed by the FBR chairman, approved the establishment of the National Faceless Centre at its meeting on Friday. The board described the initiative as a major reform that will change the way tax audits and assessments are conducted across the country.
Under the new system, tax cases will be selected through a computerised, risk-based mechanism rather than by individual tax officers. Once selected, each case will be automatically assigned to an officer located anywhere in Pakistan.
The taxpayer will not be informed of the identity of the officer handling the case, while the officer will have no role in selecting the cases assigned to them.
The system will also separate key stages of the tax process among different officials. One officer will conduct the audit, another will undertake the assessment, while a third will review the proceedings for quality control before an order is issued.
The FBR said this arrangement would prevent a single officer from controlling a taxpayer’s case throughout the entire process.
All notices, taxpayer responses and hearings will be conducted electronically through the FBR’s IRIS system. Where physical verification or recovery is legally required, the process will be handled by a separate field team.
The National Faceless Centre derives its legal authority from the Finance Act, 2026. It will be headed by an Inland Revenue chief commissioner and will have separate wings responsible for faceless audit, faceless assessment, quality control and field operations.
A Programme Management Unit has also been established to oversee the implementation and rollout of the new system.
The FBR said the reform is intended to ensure uniform procedures for taxpayers, encourage data-driven decision-making and reduce face-to-face interaction that has been a longstanding source of complaints.
The faceless tax model is similar to systems adopted in countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, the Netherlands, Singapore and India.
The FBR expects the new system to make tax proceedings more efficient, transparent and consistent for taxpayers across Pakistan.
