ISLAMABAD: The newly-formed committee on Sales Tax has held a meeting with traders under chairmanship of MNA Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan at FBR House.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the Committee on Income Tax was also held under the chairmanship of Shahid Hussain Asad, Senior Member Inland Revenue Policy.
Leading representatives from the business community and FBR senior Members participated in day-long discussions on issues of sales tax and the modalities of arriving at a consensus on the stalemate issue that stemmed originally from the 0.6 per cent withholding tax on bank transactions.
The business community finally agreed to focus discussions to 28 points of contention that were listed down. Senior Members Shahid Hussain Asad and Muhammad Ashraf Khan assured the representatives of the business community that FBR is not to take any decision on the proposals but will place all proposals of the business representatives before the Finance Minister for decision, therefore they must rest assured that all their proposals will be considered by the government and that FBR will not hold back any proposal.
There are three separate committees formed by government to address sales tax, income tax and communications issues. The committees are to complete their internal deliberations and submit recommendations to the Finance Minister by November 15. The sum of decisions on all items will finally be announced by the Finance Minster after discussions with the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Representatives of the business community were satisfied with progress on many items and expressed positive expectations on a timely agreement on issues by November 15. They agreed upon issues including one-page simple return form for non-filers.
Next meetings will be held in the following week.
