MULTAN: The Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) has collected Rs 1,380 million on services in the province during the fiscal year 2016-17.
These views were expressed by Additional Commissioner Punjab Revenue Authority Humayun Raees in an exclusive interview with Customs Today.
The authority has also widened the tax net by conducting seminars to educate the potential taxpayers in the Multan Commissionerate.
Humayun said that Multan Commissionerate has widened the jurisdiction which comprised of the whole Southern Punjab from Mian Channu to Sadiqabad. He said that the Multan PRA has been showing impressive work after the establishment of the Commissionerate office two years ago.
He said that Punjab Revenue Authority has created public awareness at large scale for the collection of taxes on provision of services. Punjab Revenue Authority has taken effective measures through enforcement of laws by implementing the collection of sales taxes in the vast jurisdiction. He told that tax collection is a continuous process and we are striving hard for the collection of maximum revenue in the region by implementing our laws. Punjab Revenue Authority has state of the art effective tax monitoring system for the collection of taxes in the South Punjab.
Punjab Revenue Authority is collecting taxes from restaurants, hotels, beauty parlors, marriage halls and all private departments which are giving services to people. He told that only 600 restaurants and private departments were registered with Punjab Revenue Authority before the establishment of our office in South Punjab.
The PRA has brought more than 4,000 potential taxpayers into the tax net after establishment of their Multan office and before its establishment there were only 600 restaurants and private departments registered with the authority.
He expressed that hotel industry in Pakistan is flourishing day by day and government has charged 16 percent sales tax on their services. He informed that Punjab Revenue Authority has taken innovative steps by launching Restaurant Invoice Monitoring System (RIMS) in order to collect accurate taxes from them and it will also avoid tax evasion. Punjab Revenue Authority is facing issues relating to its implementation of taxes from restaurants and others, because some restaurants did not play active role in its timely implementation. However, continuous efforts are being made by Multan Comissionerate to effectively cater this issue in due time.
He stated that Punjab Revenue Authority has launched Restaurant Invoice Monitoring System (RIMS) for the generation real time invoice in order to avoid any tax evasion in the Province and it will be launched very soon in the Multan Commisionerate. These revolutionary changes will ultimately boost the revenue collection of Punjab Revenue Authority in the jurisdiction due to their effective measures.
He described on a query that it is wrong perception that Punjab Revenue Authority is collecting dual taxes from their taxpayers and we are harassing them. We are contributing in our national economy by collecting taxes from their services in South Punjab and it is public responsibility to come forward and pay their liable taxes. He said that the authority has overcome the negative concepts of harassment in the region by wining confidence of taxpayer through transparent tax collection system and realized taxpayer that payment of taxes are their national responsibility. Taxpayer can also file appeal to Commissioner Punjab Revenue in case of any injustice during our action .
He scribed that Punjab Revenue Authority is not charging any dual taxes on the import consignments of the Punjab based importers and Punjab Infrastructure cess is charged on the utilization of road infrastructure of Province. Every province is charging taxes on the importers items like Sindh government and it is wrong perception from importers of Punjab that authority is charging dual taxes on their import items. Punjab Infrastructure Cess is minor tax on the import shipment and importers are cooperating well with us now.
Punjab Revenue Authority had collected Rs.238 million taxes in the fiscal year 2014-15 and made collection of worth 512 million in the economic year 512 million and now due to our continuous efforts of our Commissionerate revenue collection of authority increases day by day and it reached to Rs.1380 million during fiscal year 2016-17.
