Tax registration halt causes problems

KARACHI: The discontinuation of sales tax registration of manufactures by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is causing problems for the businessmen, a tax practitioner said on Tuesday.

President Mohammad Zubair at Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA), in a letter to the Chairman FBR, said the board has put on hold all the requests of registration after the discovery that a few entities managed to get themselves registered as the manufactures to avail certain benefits.  

The FBR were earlier approving the online registrations of manufacturers or any other category within 24 hours of submission of online request. This resulted in granting of registration to some persons who were registered as manufacturers but subsequently it was discovered that they were not eligible.

The association said the cases are held in abeyance, which is hampering their import and manufacturing business.

“There are instances where online system inquiry shows in the portal that the request has been approved but it is otherwise held up. Some instances are where registration of manufacturers was wrongly cleared as service provider during this period,” Zubair said.  “The taxpayers are unable get any relief from the General Manager PRAL and other relevant officers as the FBR has halted the grant of sales tax registration for manufacturing category and the criteria in this regard has not been issued by the FBR.”

The KTBA approached the FBR for immediate action to address the difficulties of existing taxpayers. “The delay in resolving these issues are becoming counterproductive to its drive to widen tax net,” he added.