ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to implement concessions in taxes for traders through a presidential ordinance next week, a top tax official told Dawn.

The tax rate concessions were offered in a deal reached between the Federal Board of Revenue and representatives of traders on October 30. The pact has two parts — concession in tax rates and facilitation measures.

Talking to Dawn, FBR Chairman Shabbar Zaidi said the presidential ordinance will be issued next week. Under that, traders will pay 0.5 per cent of an annual turnover of Rs100 million instead of 1.5pc and the same traders would not become withholding agents.

He said the electricity limit for registration in sales tax will be increased to Rs1.2 million from the existing Rs600,000. However, he said the CNIC condition for Rs50,000 purchases will be effective from Feb 1, 2020.

Meanwhile, the FBR has notified 493 market committees across the country with 53 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 13 in the federal capital, 373 in Punjab where seven district level committees from the south were included.

Similarly, 40 committees were notified in Sindh, which include eight at the district level and 15 in Quetta. These committees will be looked after by respective regional tax officers (RTOs).

The two sides already have agreed that the government would introduce simple forms in Urdu for registration of new traders and income tax return filing, while trade bodies will offer full cooperation in the incorporation of new businesses.

On the issue of big retailers, the chairman said that the FBR is thankful for the overwhelming and productive response of tier-1 players for integration with Point of Sales (POS) system.

The FBR IT department will ensure compatibility of systems with its software. “We are fully committed to automated systems with least human intervention,” he said.

According to Zaidi, the integration of tier-1 retailers with automated POS is a win-win situation both the parties. “The FBR assures a smooth, harassment and hassle0free transition,” he said, adding it will be ensured that a transparent system with least human intervention is put in place.

The drive for installation of automated POS at big outlets has been initiated as part of government’s drive to document sales of large retailers who are currently evading tax payment, which runs into billions. It has projected to bring 20,000 such retailers under the system by end of June 2020.

On the revenue performance, Zaidi said he was hopeful that the collection will cross the figure of Rs2.050 trillion in the first half of this fiscal year. The IMF has already lowered the target to Rs5.23tr, from Rs5.55tr.

He said that no additional revenue measures are under consideration at the movement and the FBR has not raised any such proposal with the IMF even. “We will make it public in case of any additional revenue measures,” the chairman further said.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2019