BAHAWALPUR: Facilitation and Taxpayer Education Wing of FBR held a workshop on e-portal services and role & responsibilities of withholding agents at Bahawalpur Chamber of Commerce & Industries, Bahawalpur in collaboration with Regional Tax Office (RTO), Bahawalpur. Presidents, Vice Presidents and other office-bearers of Rahimyar Khan Chamber, Tax Bar Associations of Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Lodhran and Rahimyar Khan, Corporate Taxpayers and major withholding agents attended the workshop.
Saleem Raza Asif, Chief Commissioner, RTO Bahawalpur and Ameer Yousaf Khan, President Bahawalpur Chamber of Commerce & Industries jointly presided over the workshop. Ameer Yousaf Khan welcomed the workshop participants and the senior hierarchy of RTO Bahawalpur and officers from FBR. In his opening remarks, he encouraged the participants to freely and openly discuss their problems regarding the withholding taxes and give their input for improvement of the withholding tax regime. He emphasized upon the FBR to give special attention to the Southern Punjab in facilitation and creating awareness. Saleem Raza Asif, Chief Commissioner, RTO, Bahawalpur thanked the President of the Chamber for hosting the said workshop. Ahmad Shuja Khan, Commissioner (IR), Muhammad Sultan, Additional Commissioner (IR), Ghulam Hussain Daultana, Deputy Commissioner (HQs) and Hassan Mabroor, Deputy Commissioner, were also present at the occasion.
Hassan Mabroor gave a comprehensive presentation on the roles and responsibilities of Withholding Agents in the system of tax collection and highlighted and discussed the laws and provisions concerning WHT agents.
A detailed e-portal/website awareness presentation was given by Sami-ul-Haq, Webmaster, FATE Wing, FBR elaborating to the audience all the facilities and information provided on FBR’s website so that they can take full benefit of the system and FBR’s e-portal.
The presentations were followed by Questions and Answers session where the participants highlighted their issues faced in e-services, sales tax and income tax at the time of payment of withholding taxes. These questions were addressed by Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and other relevant officers of RTO Bahawalpur.
The participants of the workshop appreciated the holding of the workshops and thanked FBR for providing them with this opportunity of direct interaction with the tax authorities. They hoped that these workshops would be made a regular feature of FBR’s outreach program.
Chief Commissioner, RTO Bahawalpur, Saleem Raza Asif, in his concluding remarks, appreciated the initiative of FATE Wing of FBR and said that these workshops should be turned into a regular feature as they provide an opportunity of first hand interaction with the taxpayers and other stakeholders. He appreciated active participation from various trade bodies of the region.
This workshop was held as part of a series of workshops being held all over the country by FBR’s FATE Wing to communicate with the taxpayers and to educate them about various initiatives undertaken by FBR. The workshops also provided an opportunity of getting feedback from them to further improve the FBR-taxpayer relationship.
