LAHORE: The Withholding Zone of Regional Tax Office-II (RTO-II) is putting more focus on increased strength of withholding agents as well as tax-net for more contribution to the national economy.
This was stated by RTO-II Assistant Commissioner Amir Yasin, Withholding Zone, during an exclusive interview with Customs Today.
Talking about the jurisdictions, Amir said he collects taxes from builders, developers, contractors and consultants from Lahore. The total taxpayers’ strength is 11,500 in which 550 are withholding agents from whom he collects taxes.
He said that, after the separation of corporate and non-corporate taxpayers, the Regional Tax Office-II (RTO-II) has updated a list of withholding agents and educated the withholding agents about the newly introduced properties ordinance implemented by the government in the Financial Year 2016.
Talking about the laws, Amir said he collects taxes under the Section 153, 155 and 149 of the Income Tax Ordinance-2001 and he also applies Section 231(A) to cash withdrawal and Section 151 to the withdrawal cases from the National Savings, Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB), Allied Bank Limited (ABL), Bank of Punjab (BOP) and Soneri Bank.
‘’RTO-II Withholding Zone also collects taxes under Section 236 (A) on auctions in the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) and the departments of provincial government”, he further said. Adding more, he collects taxes from builders and developers under the Section 7 (A) 7 (B).
Amir told Customs Today that he keeps in contact with the WHT agents every time and he also conducts field audit of the General Post Office (GPO) and other government institutions. He said that, after the separation of corporate and non-corporate taxpayers, the tax net has expanded.
The assistant commissioner said he always helps withholding agents for huge collection and he is asking the government institutions to file withholding statements. He added that he has asked the institutions to monitor taxes and pass over the information regarding tax. Amir said he directs the AOPs and individuals to increases turnover from Rs50 million.
He said the RTO-II has constituted teams under the supervision of Additional Commissioners Atif Bashir and Muhammad Ali. Each team comprises three members of the Inland Revenue.
The deputy commissioner said that, after the awareness of withholding agents, the RTO-II will introduce the scrutiny teams to the withholding agents. If scrutiny teams find any discrepancies, RTO-II will impose default surcharge on the agents.
Assistant Commissioner Amir Yasin said the RTO-II focuses on continuous strict audit of withholding agents and ensures timely payment of taxes throughout the year.
The assistant commissioner told Customs Today that he always discusses important matters with seniors on daily basis and learns from their experiences. He said the motivation by Chief Commissioner Khawaja Adnan Zaheer always encourages him as well.
He said the trust based working atmosphere is a key to success. For capacity building of the officials and officers, training workshops are also arranged to discuss different issues of tax laws, he maintained.
