ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Nisar Muhammad Khan has said that turnover tax rate of 12 sectors has been brought to two percent from eight percent under Income Tax (Second Amendment) Bill 2015.
“No sector except these 12 sectors staged protest against this reduction in tax rate despite the fact that exemption had been announced after full-fledged consultations with representatives of these sectors,” Nisar Muhammad Khan observed while briefing the Senate Finance Committee on Income Tax (Second Amendment) Bill 2015 here.
He said that exemption in tax to other sectors could also be deliberated in the Finance Bill for fiscal year 2016-17, disclosing that budgetary preparations for the next financial year had been started and hopefully budget would be prepared in May 2016.
The committee chairman questioned the reasons for fixing rate of withholding tax on bank transactions at two percent and proposed to lower it to one percent.
In this regard, Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood observed that ordinance was lying pending with the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue and would be passed after getting due recommendations from the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and the Senate too.
The Senate Standing Committee decided to discuss Income Tax (Second Amendment) Bill 2015 in an informal meeting on Tuesday (today) at FBR Headquarters here.
The chairman of the committee observed that the issue of money bill had to be resolved within 14 days of the promulgation of such an ordinance. However, no decision should be taken in haste. He said that the committee would hold thorough and detailed consultations with all members and then would try to take any decision in this regard.
After the committee meeting, Salim Mandviwala told Customs Today that almost every sector had serious concerns over this bill, therefore, the members had decided to hold an informal discussion with the FBR top hierarchy and if committee would feel satisfied then it would grant approval to this bill.
