FBR sets up National Faceless Centre: no more direct contact with tax officers

Islamabad: The Federal Board of Revenue has established the National Faceless Centre (NFC) in Islamabad. The decision was taken by the Board in Council in its meeting held today. The NFC is a major reform that changes how tax audits and assessments are carried out in Pakistan.

Until now, a taxpayer whose return was picked for audit had to deal with a particular officer in a particular office, often in person. Under the new system, that contact ends. Cases will be selected by a computerised, risk based system rather than by any officer. Each case will then be assigned automatically to an officer who may be sitting anywhere in the country. The taxpayer will not know who the officer is, and the officer will have no say in which case comes to him.

Every case will pass through three separate hands. One officer will conduct the audit, a second will make the assessment, and a third will review the work for quality before any order is issued. No single officer will control a taxpayer’s case from start to finish.

All notices, replies and hearings will take place electronically through FBR’s IRIS system. Where the law requires a physical verification or recovery, this will be carried out by a separate field team.

The NFC draws its legal authority from the Finance Act, 2026. It will be headed by a Chief Commissioner Inland Revenue, with dedicated wings for faceless audit, faceless assessment, quality control and field operations. A Programme Management Unit has already been set up to oversee its rollout.

The purpose of the reform is same rules for every taxpayer, decisions based on data rather than personal judgement, and an end to the face to face contact that has long been a source of complaints. FBR expects the NFC to make tax proceedings faster, fairer and more transparent for taxpayers across Pakistan.