Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Thursday expressed its concerns over the process of execution of ‘Benami Act’ by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) at ground level. The Committee noted that Anti Money Laundering Act’s rules and regulations needed to be reviewed for its effective implementation.
The 61st meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue was held here at Parliament House, under the chairmanship of MNA Faiz Ullah.

Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Asim Ahmad briefed the Committee about the action taken by the FBR on the implementation of Benami Act.

He said that 500 cases were identified, out of which 55 references had been launched. Asim Ahmad assured the committee that FBR always put taxpayer facilitation as its top most priority.

Robust internal control mechanism was in place to ensure transparency, he said. The chairman FBR said that policy of non-interactive system-based disposal of business was followed i.e. all kind of notices were issued electronically bearing Bar Code therefore, all possible measure had been put in place to curb the incidence of harassment.

The committee unanimously directed that FBR to launch awareness campaign for the public about the rules of AML and Benami Act.  The committee discussed the issue regarding missing of non-duty paid auctioned vehicles.

The member, Customs informed the committee that subject news item had been published distorting the facts in without seeking any input/feedback from the concerned department which showed complete lack of journalistic ethics on the part of the reporting. He explained the facts and background of the matter.

After detailed discussion, the committee recommended that all Provincial Secretaries of Excise and Taxation departments might be called in the next meeting of the committee.

The committee discussed the matter pertaining to leavy of Regulatory Duty (RD) on stationary items (Led Pencil).
The Member, Customs said that the Pencil falling under PCT heading 6909.1000 attracted CD @ 20%, ST @ 17%, ACD 7%, WHT 5.5%.

During the budget exercise of 2021-22, various proposals from pencil local manufacturers were received for imposition of RDS on the pencils in order to promote import substation and protection of local industry.

The manufacturers requested to impose Regularity Duty (RD) @ 10% on imports of pencils, pens and other stationary items to save domestic industry, according to them stationary sectors were providing employment to work 20,000 skilled workers using precision advance engineering equipment and there are 5 manufacturing units in Pakistan, out of which 2 have been closed, one unit is operating partially and 2 units are in operation.

However, during subsequent meeting of the Tarif Policy Board, the rate of RD was enhanced from 10% to 20%.
The committee noted that leavy of Regulatory Duty (RD) on any item should be considered in light of the requirements of local level.

The committee recommended that local manufacturers might be invited in the next meeting for final directions to the FBR in that regard. The Committee discussed the Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2020, clause by clause, however, could not complete its reading, due to short of time and decided that further discussion will be carried by tomorrow meeting.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Dr. Aisha Ghous Pasha,Faheem Khan, Ali Pervaiz,Jamil Ahmed Khan, Dr. Nafisa Shah, Amjad Ali Khan and Makhdoom Syed Sami- ul- Hassan Gillani and Minister for Finance and Revenue besides the senior officers from M/o Finance and Revenue, Federal Board of Revenue.