MULTAN City News

‘Tax law being modified’

From Our Correspondent

MULTAN: FBR Inland Revenue member Dr Muhammad Irshad Wednesday said tax law is being modified.

Talking to a delegation of the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) led by its chairman Shahzad Ali Khan, Irshad said drastic changes were being introduced in the taxation system to make it tax-payers friendly. He was accompanied by Chief Commissioner RTO Multan Khawaja Saleem Raza Asif and Chief Commissioner RTO Bahawalpur Ghazanfar Abbas. Irshad assured that ginners refunds would be cleared immediately and we would pay all refund claims before July 1, 2016.

He ordered Chief Commissioners of Multan, Bahawalpur, Faisalabad and Hyderabad to withdraw notices served to them and a committee comprising the representatives of PCGA and tax-managers be formed to resolve all issues to bring both the tax-payers and collectors on the same page.

The ginners representatives complained that APTMA had deducted withholding tax of Rs.50 billion from ginners against the sale of their cotton but they did not deposit this amount in National exchequer, but the FBR was issuing notice to ginners instead of withholding tax agent to pay this amount. Upon this, Dr Irshad asked the Chief Commissioners to submit the list of defaulters we would deduct this amount from their refunds. He said it was true that farmers as well as ginners have incurred a loss of Rs.200 billion due to decline of cotton production by 39 per cent or 51,00,000 bales.

Consequently Government had also incurred a loss of Rs 2 billion at the rate of one per cent. Member (IR) operations asked ginners to cooperate with the tax department for enhancing government revenues and contributing towards economic stability and prosperity of the country.

Shahzad Ali Khan spoke about problems being faced by them in particular with respect to the Binola’s quality and quantity in raw cotton. The member FBR issued directions to the Chief Commissioners and other senior officers to promptly address ginners problems. He also advised them to give timeline for resolution of these issues. Dr Irshad emphasized that FBR has fully authorized and mandated the Regional Chief Commissioners to resolve tax payers’ problems at their doorsteps.

President visits Multan today

From Our Correspondent

MULTAN: President Mamnoon Hussain is visiting Multan on Thursday (today).

According to officials, the president will inaugurate a private hospital and will address the executive members of Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.