ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) acting President Muhammad Naveed Malik has urged the government to give at least one-month extension in tax amnesty scheme so that maximum number of business community and other people can take benefit of it. He said this while talking to a delegation of businessmen led by Industrial Association Islamabad President Mian Akram Farid, Ashfaq Hussain Chatha, Raja Safeer, Fahim Khan and Shiraz Siddiqui on Friday. Malik said that the outgoing government had announced an amnesty scheme during last days of its term, but the matter was taken up by the Supreme Court for review due to which businessmen could not take benefit of it as they were waiting for the decision of the Supreme Court. “However, now the SC has approved the amnesty scheme and has removed all doubts and ambiguities about it.” He said the scheme was going to end on June 30, 2018, while due to Eid holidays insufficient time was left for the business community and other people to work out the detail of assets for availing this scheme. He asked that the government to give at least one-month extension till July 31, 2018 to potential taxpayers to take benefit of the scheme. “It will also help expand the tax net of the country,” he observed. Speaking on the occasion, Industrial Association Islamabad President Mian Akram Farid said that the outgoing government had taken a positive initiative by introducing a tax amnesty scheme as it would enable Pakistanis to legalise their undeclared assets by paying a nominal tax of 5 percent. He said that the overseas Pakistanis would also be able to bring their assets to the country by paying just 2 percent tax. He said that the business community needed more time to prepare documentation. He, too, asked the government to give extension in the scheme so that maximum people could take advantage of it. Raja Safeer said that US, Germany, Indonesia, India, Brazil and other countries had also incentivised their potential taxpayers to disclose local and foreign assets by introducing voluntary disclosure schemes with lower tax rates. He hoped that the current amnesty scheme would be beneficial for taxpayers as well as the national economy. He went on to say that the government had recently hiked the prices of petroleum products that had created additional problems for the local industry by enhancing cost of production. He said that the industry was purchasing furnace oil at Rs 35,000/tonne which has gone up to Rs 78,000/tonne. He said that more than double increase in the cost of furnace oil had increased the cost of manufacturing activities and urged that the government should review its decision in the larger interest of the national economy. Published in Daily Times, June 16th 2018.