GST on Goods and services: Unified portal, single returns from next month, says FBR

ISLAMABAD: Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Dr Ashfaque Ahmed said on Thursday that the harmonisation of General Sales Tax (GST) on goods and services through a unified portal and single returns would be implemented from next month and it would bring a revolution in facilitating the taxpayers in a big way.

The FBR also proposed to place uniform Income Tax Returns whereby the tax liability on income and business will be deducted on behalf of the Centre while tax on agriculture income will be transferred into the accounts of respective federating units.

“The provinces are very happy on the proposal of unified Income Tax Returns,” the Chairman FBR, Dr Ashfaque Ahmed, said while talking to The News on Thursday night. He said that he had worked day and night for harmonization of GST on goods and services and it would have been implemented during the ongoing month if the cyber attack had not occurred.

“We have worked hard to put in place a unified portal and GST returns, so that the taxpayers can be facilitated,” he said and added that there was no justification to bind the taxpayers to file returns separately with every tax authority located at federal and provincial levels simultaneously. Now it has been done, he said.

On the issue of having jurisdiction of collecting GST on restaurants under the domain of provinces, the chairman FBR said that the bureau had a very strong case on the basis of the judgment of the Supreme Court in 2018 where it had maintained that it should be resolved among the Centre and the provinces amicably.

He said that the FBR presented its case strongly; however, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, being Chairman of the National Tax Council (NTC), decided that the provinces would continue the collection of GST on restaurants with the condition that the reference would be forwarded to the Law Division to get its interpretation on this lingering dispute.