Provinces collect Rs93.28bln sales tax on services in first-half

KARACHI: Provincial tax authorities have collected Rs93.28 billion sales tax on services during the first-half (July-December) 2017 as compared to Rs76 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, showing a growth of 23 percent, statistics released by the ministry of finance revealed.

The growth can be attributed to expansion in services sector and efforts made by the provincial authorities to bring more people in the tax net.

The provinces have been empowered to collect sales tax on services under the 18th Amendment passed on April 8, 2010. Sindh was the first to make legislation for the imposition of sales tax on services within its jurisdiction during the same year. Since then, all the provinces have now established their revenue authorities to collect tax on services rendered within their jurisdictions.

The data showed that the revenue collection by the provinces is gradually increasing with the expansion of the tax net. During the last fiscal year, the combined collection of provincial sales tax on services has posted 32 percent growth to Rs170 billion as compared to Rs129.75 billion.

The half-yearly revenue collection revealed that Punjab has posted 34 percent growth to reach Rs47.16 billion as compared to Rs35.18 billion in the corresponding period of 2016. The Punjab government has taken several initiatives to increase the revenue collection, especially introduction of real-time monitoring of invoices issued by restaurants, it added.

The Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) has been tasked with Rs130 billion for the fiscal year 2017/18. The authority is hopeful of achieving it through measures introduced during the current fiscal year, including identifying potential taxpayers in different segments of service providers.

The Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) has posted 10.37 percent growth in revenue collection during July–December 2017 to Rs38.18 billion as compared to Rs35.18 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, the statistics revealed.

The provincial government has fixed a target of Rs100 billion during the current fiscal year.

The SRB; however, improved the pace of revenue collection by collecting Rs9.5 billion alone in January 2018.

The other two provinces are in infancy stage of enforcement of sales tax on services.

The revenue authority of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan revenue authorities collected Rs5 billion and Rs2.9 billion, respectively, during the first-half of the current fiscal year.

Tax experts believed the provincial revenue collection would increase with the integration of data of the federal and provincial taxpayers.

Meanwhile, the federal and provincial governments are considering establishing a national tax authority to resolve taxpayers’ difficulties regarding imposition of double taxation and input adjustment, they added.