ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Syed Shabbar Zaidi has warned the industrial consumers the government will make legislation and take steps against the sales tax unregistered manufactures from July this year.
While addressing a news conference, the Chairman FBR said there are 3.1 million commercial, 341,000 electricity and 7,000 gas industrial consumers, but only 38,937 industrial units are registered in sales tax. The government wants to facilitate the business community while enhancing the tax net. He said industries should get themselves registered in sales tax.
FBR is collecting further data of industrial connections from DISCO’s. He said no complaint of harassment has been received about payment of taxes. There is no change in law regarding freezing the accounts but the officer concerned will informed the chairman office and the aggrieved person 24 hours before to freeze the account.
He said that the institution is trying to reconcile with the manufacturers and want past liabilities under the Amnesty Scheme. Chairman Zaidi said that industrial consumers of gas and power will have to register to the sales tax by paying two per cent under the Amnesty Scheme. He added that the government will pass legislation and take steps against unregistered manufacturers starting from July. The laws made today will be beneficial for the future.
The chairman pointed out that there are 341 thousand electricity and 7,000 gas industrial consumers, but only 38,000 industrial units are registered in the sales tax. He further stated that there are no complaints against the institution regarding harassment. He said he can’t take responsibility of an individual but if the institution promotes harassment in any way, he will take action.
Announcing amnesty for industry, the chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) urged the industrialists and manufacturers to take advantage of the Asset Declaration Scheme and informed that a special clause has been included in the Asset Declaration Scheme, which was not included in it earlier, which is that if anybody is having sales tax liability he or she may clear these by paying just two percent tax.
The chairman said that there were possibilities that these industrial consumer connections might include some connections that come under cotton industry under law, however, added that there was dire need to check this huge difference. He urged the media to sensitize people on the issue so that those avoiding to clear their past sales tax liabilities might realize this gap and get registered with FBR by taking advantage of the Asset Declaration Scheme. He said that the FBR would try its best to make it voluntary and do not indulge in harassment, as it wanted to create environment for the businesses. To a question, the FBR Chairman said that there were around 3.1 million commercial consumers, however added that the strategy on how to get the unregistered consumers to get registered with FBR would be shared with media. To another questions, the Chairman FBR said that there were over one lack companies registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), however just 50,000 were filing their returns.
It is pertinent to mention here that the government last week had announced Asset Declaration Scheme, providing one more opportunity to all Pakistani citizens to declare and legalize undisclosed assets inside and outside the country by paying just four percent taxes on all assets other than real estate. The scheme would be applicable till June 30, and all Pakistan citizens, other than those holding public offices or their dependents, would be able to take benefit from it. The basic purpose of this scheme was to make Pakistan economy documented and make the dead assets functional to promote economy by encouraging businessmen to participate in the legal economy.
