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WEEKLY
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| Rs75bn fund in offing to bail out PSO: FBR |
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Sunday, February 15, 2009
By our correspondent
KARACHI: Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Ahmed Waqar has said that a fund worth Rs75 billion is being set up to bail out Pakistan State Oil (PSO) from the financial crunch.
He was speaking to members of Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) at a luncheon meeting on Saturday at KATI office.
Chairman FBR said that the fund would be constituted by the end of this month, which would help PSO pay its debts and further make payments to refineries.
Waqar said that efforts are being made to bring wholesale, retail and service sectors into tax net, adding the FBR would be able to collect revenue of Rs1,300 to Rs1,360 billion by the end of this fiscal year.
He said that those who are in the tax net and paying their taxes should not be worried about any of the FBR initiatives. He said the FBR is considering paying surcharge along with sales tax refund if it fails to pay the refund on time.
He announced to establish an FBR help desk on the premises of KATI to help its members. He said that the business community is the most important faction for the FBR as it is paying the precious revenues to run the country and the FBR is all out to help and assist the trade and industry.
Responding to the welcome address by the KATI Chairman, Mian Zahid Husain, the FBR chief said that various measures are being taken in the next federal budget to be announced in June.
The KATI Chief, Mian Zahid Husain while highlighting business community’s woes said that tax slab on turnover for small industries should be levied at the uniform rate of 25 per cent.
He also appealed chairman FBR to withdraw withholding tax on electricity bills with the rate of 10 per cent. He said that this tax is unjustified as business community is already over-burdened due to ever-increasing power rates and unbearable load-shedding.
Hussain said that the tax on rental income should be revised downward at the rate of five per cent. He suggested declaring all areas out of the limits of Municipal Corporation as rural and un-developed areas and allowing depreciation on setting up industries there. He demanded of the FBR chief to empower income tax commissioners to issue exemption certificates on imports as practiced in the past.
He also suggested to reduce deduction of tax on cash withdrawal from bank to 0.1 per cent from 0.3 percent, e-filing of Mandatory NIFT Certificates should be continued through Pin Code, Pass-word and User ID.
He said that Sales Tax department has once again started audit while FBR has suspended the audit of registered persons through a circular, this should also be discontinued. He said that sales tax refund claims should be refunded without delay and revenue collection should be improved through enhancing tax net.
The Patron In-chief, KATI, S M Muneer in his address urged the need of a better relationship between the FBR and the business community so that the taxmen would able to meet the revenue target.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
