FBR, businessmen to discuss refund issues, tax proposals

 Revenue collection at Rs1.7 trillion in July-January

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will hold two-day meetings with businessmen and foreign investors from today to discuss their tax proposals for the upcoming budget and stuck sales tax refunds, officials said on Wednesday.

Officials said top brass of the FBR is scheduled to visit Karachi on February 9 and 10 to meet business community, including foreign investors and leading multinational companies (MNCs).

The visiting team would include Haroon Akhtar, advisor to prime minister on revenue, Muhammad Irshad, chairman of FBR and member inland revenue (policy) Rehmatullah Khan Wazir.

The tax authorities would hold talks with the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Pakistan Business Council (PBC) on the first day. PBC has also members from foreign companies and MNCs.

A senior FBR official said the foreign investors had complained the FBR about their stuck sales tax refunds, creating liquidity issue and discouraging foreign companies operating in Pakistan.

The official said overseas companies would also share their tax proposals for the next federal budget of 2017/18. The FBR team would also discuss with them the declining revenue from the corporate sector.

The provisional tax collection of the FBR reached Rs1.7 trillion during the first seven months of the current fiscal year of 2016/17. The board needs to collect at least Rs1.92 trillion in the next five months to meet the annual target of Rs3.621 trillion.

The FBR team will also discuss revenue collection, refunds and audit issues with the members of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry on the second day of their visit.

They also meet with the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan to get updates on withholding tax deduction by banks. Officials said during the two-day visit the team would also meet with the officials of large taxpayers units and regional tax offices to review the revenue performance.