ISLAMABAD: The federal government has formed three committees to address the issue of 0.3 per cent withholding tax imposed on banking transactions and other tax-related issues.
This was decided during a meeting between tax officials and the representatives of business community. The committees will submit their reports by the mid August.
The 0.6 per cent withholding tax was imposed in federal budget for fiscal year 2015-16 only on non-filers of income tax returns and was later lowered to 0.3pc for three months till Sept 30.
The source said the committees would also look into other issues pertaining to filing of tax returns, especially sales tax and turnover tax. They have powers to co-opt other members if necessary.
According to an official announcement issued after the meeting, the Income Tax and Sales Tax committees will submit their reports by Aug 13. Their first meeting will be held on July 31 at the FBR headquarters.
The agenda of the meeting was to facilitate business community to become filer and thus avoid imposition of withholding tax under Section 236P of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, as well as to resolve related issues pertaining to income tax and sales tax and to evolve an effective communication strategy on educating the public and specifically traders on the rational of this tax measure for documentation of economy and broadening of tax base.
The announcement said the Tuesday meeting was attended by Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Mohammad Afzal; Mian Abdul Mannan and Malik Pervez, MNAs; Special Assistant to PM on Revenue Haroom Akhtar Khan; FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa; Senior Member (Inland Revenue Policy), FBR, Shahid Hussain Asad; and 19 representatives of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, various chambers of commerce and industry and leaders of the traders community from across the country.
The members of the Communication Committee include MNA Mian Abdul Mannan, Member FATE Nadeem Dar, Member FPCCI, Zubair Tufail, Anjum Mahmood Butt of Pakistan Muslim Traders Wing, Syed Asad Mashhadi, President Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), President ICCI, Muzammal Hussain Sabri, Amir Waheed, General Secretary of Punjab Sugar Dealers Association, Sheikh Babar Khurana, Fuad Ishaq, President pg KPK CCI and, Muhammad Ali Mian, former President of LCCI.
Income Tax Committee comprising MNA Malik Pervez, Shahid Hussain Asad, Senior Member (Inland Revenue Policy), FBR, Sheikh Muhammad Asif of LCCI, Muhammad Ali Mian, former President LCCI, Zubair Tufail of FPCCI, Anjum Mahmood Butt of Pakistan Muslim Traders Wing, Muzammal Hussain Sabri, President ICCI, Malik Sohail Hussain of FPCCI, Khawaja Zarrar Kaleem VP, FPCCI, Lahore, Khawaja Tanveer Ashraf PML-N Gujranwala, Asim Zulfiqar, Chartered Accountant, Lahore and Kashif Shabbir, former President RCCI.
However, MNA, Parliamentary Secretary Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan, Member (Inland Revenue Operations), FBR Muhammad Ashraf Khan, Ashfaq Tola TRC/TAC, Asif Haroon FCA, Kashif Anwar, Khalid Tawab of FPCCI, Syed Asad Mashhadi President of RCCI and Engineer Rizwan of ICCI are included in Sales Tax Committee.
The above three Committees will have the powers to co-opt other members if considered necessary.
The committees of income tax and sales tax shall submit their reports by August 13, 2015. The first meeting of these committees will be held on Friday July 31, 2015 at FBR (HQs).
