ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has made all arrangements for today’s (Saturday) important meeting of the Tax Advisory Council (TAC).
In response to the invitations dispatched by the FBR to of 22 members to attend the meeting, some 18 members of the TAC have confirmed their participation in today’s meeting.
FBR has key focus to get recommendations from TAC in issues pertaining to broadening the tax net, providing ease of doing business without compromising revenue as well as enhancing the tax revenue.
“Besides, Member Customs FBR Nisar Muhammad Khan, economist Ashfaq Tola, Aftab Shabaan will also give their presentations to the meeting about their view point on taxation related matters” a well placed source at FBR told this scribe here on Friday.
As per sequence of the program for the meeting, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar will chair the meeting while two members of the FBR Inland Revenue-Policy Shahid Hussain Asad and Inland Revenue-Operations Muhammad Ashraf Khan along with along with Advisor to Finance Minister Rana Muhammad Assad Amin will also attend the meeting.
FBR has high bound expectations with the meeting regarding proposals, recommendations and suggestions for increasing revenue because FBR is too far from achieving even the revised revenue target this year.
Moreover, FBR is giving due significance to this meeting because it will lay foundations for the outlines of the upcoming budget as recommendations of the TAC will be given due importance in the budget making process. Furthermore, in the light of TAC recommendations, future rates for the sales tax and other taxes will be fixed.
Last year, the FBR formed TAC to recommend new measures for the next budget 2014-15. The idea to constitute a tax advisory body had originally been floated to simplify tax laws, plug loopholes and ensure principles of equity and fairness in the tax systems by seeking help of leading tax professionals of the country.
TAC is mandated to discuss and recommend new tax proposals. It provide input on different tax policy issues, enabling the government to adopt pluralistic views representing the divergent interest groups and, at the same time, enhance tax revenues, according to the notification.
It deliberates upon and suggests measures for extending the tax net, propose legislation which would minimize opposition and increase compliance of the law, according to the notification.
It provides input on different tax policy issues, enabling the government to adopt pluralistic views representing the divergent interest groups and, at the same time, enhance tax revenues, according to the notification.
In finance bill 2014-15, Finance Ministry proposed several steps to broaden tax net including bringing the retail sector under the tax net by linking their utility bills with their national tax number.
The finance ministry proposed to link the utility bills of retailers with their National Tax Number (NTN), which will help the government in tracing the tax record of retailers. Likewise, any new entrant or entrepreneur will have to obtain an NTN for paying his utility bills so that the government can trace bring him in the tax net.
TAC in a pre budget meeting held in May last year, attended by chartered accountants, academics, senior tax consultants, retired senior officers, industrialists, presidents of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), the four provincial chambers of commerce and professional associations, including ICAP, ICMA, President Tax Bar, the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Pakistan, the Banking Association, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) and Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE), expressed a general sense of satisfaction over the economic policies of the government and the expectations that the strengthening of the rupee would bring about a positive impact on the country.
The SECP chairman, FBR chairman, representatives of chartered accountant firms and senior officials of the Ministry of Finance and FBR also attended the meeting. It is pertinent to note here that Tax Advisory Council (TAC) is aimed at giving billionaires, the direct beneficiaries of tax policies, a formal role in division of tax policy.
The 22-member TAC comprises of leading industrialists, chartered accountants, business community leaders, economists and former officers of the Federal Board of Revenue. These powerful businessmen deal in almost every main sector of the economy including dairy products, textile, steel, engineering, banking and trading.
