Agreement between FBR, provinces: Single sales tax return scope to be extended to two more sectors

ISLAMABAD: In a major development, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and four provincial revenue authorities have agreed to extend the scope of Single Sales Tax Return (SSTR) for two more sectors -- oil and gas and microfinance banks -- from the ongoing month.

Earlier, only Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) were filing the SSTR.

A top FBR official confirmed to ‘The News’ on Friday that they had developed an App for filing of SSTR and now its scope would be expanded for inclusion for two more important sectors of the economy. This facility will be extended to all major sectors of the economy in the months ahead, he added.

To another query, he said that the provincial tax authorities would have to come up with unified tax rates for achieving harmonised GST for both goods and services. Under the constitutional arrangement of 1973 and incorporation of 18th Amendment, the GST on goods is the domain of the Centre and GST on the services falls under the jurisdiction of the provinces. Pakistan has agreed under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank loan conditions to place harmonised GST system, including similar tax rates and filing of the SSTR.

To a question, the official said that under the IMF agreement it was committed that the country would move from positive to negative list for the GST on services. It might become difficult owing to persistent differences over the definition on goods and services as provinces might prefer to place GST in the name of services and it might become major bone of contention among the Centre and federating units. “This ongoing debate would be intensified when the first draft of the negative list under GST on services would come to the surface for holding deliberations,” he added.

According to the FBR’s announcement made here on Friday, the Centre’s revenue authority and all provincial revenue authorities i.e. Balochistan Revenue Authority, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority, Sindh Revenue Board and Punjab Revenue Authority have unanimously agreed to extend scope of the SSTR to additional two sectors i.e. E&P (Oil & Gas) companies and microfinance banks. Taxpayers registered in these two sectors are now required to file their sales tax returns for tax period November, 2024 due in December, 2024 and onwards on the SSTR. The SSTR is now accessible through the single portal i.e. www.iris.fbr.gov.pk.