ISLAMABAD: Senate Finance Committee’s meeting was held at the Parliament House under the chairmanship of Chairman Committee Senator Saleem H. Mandviwala.
The committee has reviewed income tax proposals in details of the Finance Bill 2017. The committee was informed that the super tax was included in the Finance Bill due to recovery of Rs25billion revenue in the current financial year. It may be extended for an additional year. Super tax has been levied on 500 million profit-making companies.
Government charging four percent on banks and other companies were charging three percent. The committee members said this period should be over a year. Senator Kamil Ali Agha said there is no other purpose of the government than the acquisition of Easy Money. The FBR does not intend to do his job. The Super Tax is like a six-time slaughter of a goat. This tax must not be imposed.
The committee rejected the proposal unanimously. The FBR authorities told the committee that we charged from developers five percent tax on the approval of design. It was estimated during the current financial year that Rs25billion revenue will be collected but the FBR has recovered just Rs11 crore. The FBR will eliminate this tax.
The committee has also rejected the proposal in Finance Bill that pharmaceutical companies’ claim of expense costs increase five percent to ten percent. The committee has approved the proposal of increase in education allowance from one million to 1.5 million. The committee has approved the proposal for Gas companies to put in the Fifth Schedule.
The committee approved a proposal of tax on profits of companies to increase from 1 to 1.25 percent. Last year Federal Board of Revenue has recovered Rs61billion in this head. The FBR also authorized that the FBR can also collect the tax in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
In today’s meeting, committee reviewed 35 proposals relating to income tax. The committee meeting was attended by Senator Ilyas Ahmed Bilour, Mohammad Mohsin Khan Leghari, Irzafaruq, Saud Majeed, Mohsin Aziz, Ali Agha Usman Saifullah Khan, Chairman FBR Dr. Mohammad Irshad , Member IR policy FBR Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of law, and other senior officials.
