KARACHI: The Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) has set a collection target of Rs100 billion for sales tax on services for the fiscal year 2017-2018.
Addressing the SRB Tax Forum, its Chairman Tashfeen K Niaz said that the provincial tax collection authority had collected some Rs108 billion since 2011. He informed that the SRB had registered 7,383 taxpayers so far.
He claimed that now SRB was looking for Rs100 billion sales tax on services collection in FY2018 by bringing untapped sectors into the tax net during next four years. To achieve the 2018 target, the authority has planned to reduce litigations, improve communication between taxpayers and collecting agency, introduce online tax collection system, install POS terminals and resolve issues with FBR, the Punjab Revenue Authority and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority, he added.
Niaz said that undocumented economy, delaying tactics, limited access to information from PRAL and shortage of qualified tax administrators were some of the challenges being faced by the SRB. The purpose of this tax forum is to have an open discussion platform for all stakeholders to speak out on the issues related to the sales tax on services,” he mentioned.
He said that SRB was fully responsible for collection of sales tax on services and directly report to the Chief Minister. It has close liaison with all stakeholders including taxpayers, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), trade bodies and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). The SRB chairman said that during the ongoing fiscal year SRB had collected Rs31.8 billion against the full-year target of Rs42 billion and strenuous efforts were underway to meet the target. He said that at present, the SRB was contributing 46 percent to the total provincial revenue.
Speaking on the occasion, Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister on Finance Murad Ali Shah said that the SRB was committed to implementing several reforms in the due course of time with the patronage and guidance of the provincial government. He said that sales tax on services was always a provincial subject, however it cloud not be transferred to provinces due to unknown reasons.
Chief Commissioner Inland Revenue (IR) Ahmed Saeed Siddique said that performance of all provisional tax collecting agencies was very encouraging and they had very close liaison with the FBR. All stakeholders are on the same page and recently all provincial tax authorities and FBR has signed an agreement to resolve different disputes.
