ISLAMABAD: A committee, comprising Federal Board of Revenue and traders representatives, has finalized the suggestions to amend the SRO 608. FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa and members of committee Mian Abdul Mannan and Pervez Malik will soon meet Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to present the recommended amendments in SRO 608.
Member committee Mian Abdul Manan told Customs Today that the issue will be resolved now as FBR and traders are taken on board to prepare the proposed amendments in SRO 608. Whereas FBR sources reveal that Board is not ready for such amendments that exclude majority of traders from tax net. FBR believes that traders who have business or shops in huge shopping malls will have to pay the sales tax while low level retailers will be excluded from this list, but the economically strong traders are using weak traders for their benefits.
President All Pakistan Traders Association Ajmal Baloch told Customs Today that if this 17 percent sales tax is imposed on the retailers it will result in high level of inflation as none of the retailer will pay this tax from his pocket but will instead receive it from the customers. We demand that government cancels this SRO 608, if the government decides otherwise and impose this tax on retailers than only government will be responsible for inflation. This is illogical to impose tax on retailers who have installed air conditioners or credit card machines or whose shops are in big malls, he added.
He said traders have suggested government to take 25 percent extra tax from the traders selected for audit by lucky draw and exclude them from audit list. Audit of only 3-4 percent of filers were conducted previously and 1 percent was increased after 2-3 years, but now the number has been increased to 12, he added.
