ISLAMABAD: The Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Nisar Muhammad Khan has praised the reforms introduced in SECP during the last two years, especially appreciating the sincere efforts of Zafar Hijazi for turning the organization into a strong regulatory body.
He was speaking at the farewell reception given by the SECP senior officers on the eve of his retirement. He said that the integration of stock exchanges into Pakistan Stock Exchange was a landmark achievement of SECP and so was the Companies’ Bill 2016.
He said the significant and comprehensive changes brought in regulations by the SECP had increased the level of transparency which is bound to positively impact the economy of the country.
He said there has been excellent cooperation between FBR and SECP during the last two years especially regarding measures with regard to the capital gain tax and two percent reduction for Sharia Compliant Companies.
The proposal of SECP on REIT rentals 5% tax on disposal of immoveable property of rental REITs till June 2019 was accepted.
Similarly the proposal on list Sukuk tax neutrality no bearing on any type of reduction in tax collection and the efforts are only for the promotion of Islamic Finance and creation of a level-playing field for Shariah compliant instruments was accepted. He was confident that this level of cooperation between the two organizations would continue.
The Chairman FBR said that the tax growth during the last year was 25% and the targets of tax collection for the incoming budget would also be achieved though the tax avoidance culture prevails in the society. He said that SECP and FBR will continue their consultations with regard to the proposals for the incoming budget.
He hoped that the next budget would reflect 70% measures relating to direct taxes. The FBR chairman, also disclosed that reforms are being initiated in various sectors details will be made public very soon and these reforms would strengthen the country’s economy.
Earlier the Chairman SECP Zafar Hijazi, lauded the services of Nasir Muhammad Khan in FBR and congratulating him for leaving the organization with a spotless service record. He said during his tensure, the cooperation and coordination between the SECP and FBR increased, we achieved agreement on many tax measures and because of the tax relief mutual funds investment increased Rs25 billion during last three months.
