Daily Times

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin has announced that with effect from July 1, 2021, no notices will be issued by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) as the taxpayers will be able to carry out self-assessment whereas only 4 to 5 percent of the cases will be sent for audit which will not be done by FBR but by third party.

“I want to remove harassment by FBR. Although there are good people at FBR, there are also some troublemakers. Hence, we have agreed upon Universal Tax Self-Assessment and the audits by third party only”, he further said while speaking at an online meeting with Businessmen Group (BMG) leadership and Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) office-bearers on Thursday.

Tarin warned if any wrongdoing is found after the audit by a third party, it will result in initiation of investigation and punitive action. He stated that the government is focused on rationalising the turnover tax in order to make some sense as it varies in numerous cases. He also agreed that when a three percent penalty is being charged in case of unregistered persons, the CNIC condition should not be there. Hence, the minister directed FBR to look into this matter and stop demanding CNIC.

“A call centre will also be established at FBR in which complaints can be lodged which I will personally review on a daily basis to ensure accountability at the FBR,” he added.

In response to concerns expressed over dilapidated infrastructure of Karachi, Tarin informed that a three years package of Rs900 billion has been allocated under PSDP for Karachi which will be finalised by the PM. “During discussions on this allocation at a meeting which will be presided over by the prime minister, I will definitely raise business community’s concerns and I will be your promoter,” he promised.

He said that the government is trying its best to facilitate the SMEs and, in this regard, the SMEs falling under the bracket of Rs2 million will be provided a ‘clean credit’ facility with no security.

He said that FBR will also be directed not to stop refunds of SMEs and small businesses. “We will clear all the backlog of refunds within a few months by issuing Tradeable Bonds so that the businesses could have sufficient liquidity available with them and a smarter mechanism will be introduced to clear refunds within 60 to 90 days.”

Referring to concerns expressed over Rs58 billion refunds pending under DLTL scheme, Tarin termed it as ‘a very good point” and directed FBR expedite the refunds while DLTL should not be collected this year as the FBR already owes huge amounts.

Commenting on a suggestion to treat indenters commission as export proceeds, the finance minister said that it is a very good idea to consider indenters’ commission as export proceeds as it has been observed that many indenters prefer to keeping their earnings outside the country but if these earnings were treated as export proceeds, it would encourage them to bring funds to Pakistan.

He said that reforms are being introduced at the revenue side which will ensure that no harassment takes place and there will be no double taxation.