Taxmen teams constituted to enforce automated POS rules

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has constituted teams of taxmen to enforce mandatory integration of automated point-of-sale system by certain retailers to record their transactions on real-time basis, sources said on Monday.

The sources said Regional Tax Office (RTO-II) constituted four teams to ensure online connection to sales invoice systems of the retailers of major shopping centers in Karachi. Sources in RTO said the teams would visit four major shopping centres, including Dolmen Mall, The Forum, Ocean Mall and Emerald Tower.

The officers of all the teams would help retailers in the shopping centres link their sales with the online system of the FBR. The RTO-II Karachi has already issued notices to around 300 big retailers, asking them to integrate their sales systems with the FBR’s invoice verification system.

The sources said the retailers in the shopping centres have been categorised as tier-1. It is mandatory for them to link their system with the FBR online invoice verification system. Tier-1 retailers are those that operate as unit of a national or international chain of stores, in an air-conditioned shopping mall, plaza or centre, excluding kiosks, in a facility with cumulative electricity bill during the immediately preceding 12 consecutive months exceeding Rs600,000 or as a wholesaler-cum-retailer engaged in bulk import and supply of consumer goods on wholesale basis to the retailers and end users. Besides, a retailer is tier-1 if his shop measures 1,000 square feet in area or more.

According to a notification, the teams would ensure the connectivity of point of sales at those shopping centres. The sources said the tax office conducted physical survey of retailers situated in such shopping centres in September-October 2019 and identified huge quantity of non-duty paid and smuggled goods.

During the survey, the officials inspected imported products including garments, cosmetics, watches, toys, gift items, batteries, cigar, leather goods and designer bags. The survey revealed that the retailers had failed to provide proof of customs clearance of a number of consumer items.

On August 17, 2019, the FBR initiated the monitoring of smuggled goods in main shopping markets across the country. The FBR previously set December 15, 2019 as the deadline for tier-1 retailers to link their systems. The deadline was extended to end of this month.

The sources said the action has been started on the approval of the FBR headquarters. They said penal action would be initiated in case retailers fail to cooperate with the FBR officials.