Manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors: FBR to bring FMCG sector into digital invoicing system

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has decided to bring Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors into the Digital Invoicing System (DIS) across the country.

Under the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the FBR’s Transformation Plan would be implemented and almost ten thousand FMCGs would be linked with DIS as a complete chain. This DIS will not be implemented at the retail stage but the manufacturers and wholesalers will be brought into the DIS to gauge effective monitoring of the Sales Tax and making efforts to avoid massive leakages in the tax system.

The FBR has already linked tier-1 retailers with the Point of Sale (PoS), however, this system has so far remained unable to make it an effective system to plug leakages.

The FBR has also overhauled PoS for hotels/restaurants located in the federal capital and introduced a pilot project which entails that if they issue any fake receipt, prizes will be given to complainant.

The DIS will be put in place for different FMCG including wheat flour mills, beverages, food items and other bakery items. The FBR intends to place this system at manufacturer and wholesale levels with the purpose to gauge their actual sale and plug billions of rupees tax evasion on per annum basis.

Meanwhile, the FBR has sought suggestion from relevant stakeholders for preparation of the upcoming budget for 2025-26. It is aimed at seeking proposals for broadening of tax base for a wider participation in revenue generation efforts, policy suggestions for bringing entire value chain of all businesses in GST regime, promoting progressive taxation by introducing various measures where incidence of tax is higher on affluent classes, phasing out of tax concessions and exemptions under all tax laws, facilitation of taxpayers and ease of doing business by removal of redundancy and simplification of tax laws, measures to reduce tax arbitrage opportunities and infuse efficiency in economy by following neutrality principle in taxation and removal of tax distortions, procedural lapses and anomalies.