LAHORE: The government must revisit the rate of 1.5 percent minimum turnover tax on companies as it is payable even if the company is making losses, a tax which is anti-wealth creation, and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) must disclose the number of income and sales tax filers on its website on a monthly basis.
The former recommendations were made by former Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Revenue Haroon Akhtar and the latter by tax expert Dr Ikramul Haq while speaking as guests on “Paisa Bolta Hai” with Anjum Ibrahim here. Elaborating on the 1.5 percent minimum turnover tax Haroon Akhtar Khan stated that “this is enormous, just imagine if net profit of a company is 1.5 percent, our taxation is 100 percent. If the net profit of a company is one percent, our taxation is 150 percent. This minimum turnover is hitting the companies and it needs to be brought down in the coming budget.”
Waheed Shahzad Butt, a tax lawyer, concurred with Haroon Akhtar Khan maintaining that the minimum 1.5 percent turnover tax reflects “inefficiency and incompetence” of the FBR as it becomes part of FBR tax collection without any effort on the part of FBR.
