Sugar sector: FBR chief asks senior LTO Lahore team to maximise revenue

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Asim Ahmad, Wednesday, directed the senior management of the Large Taxpayers Office (LTO) Lahore to maximise revenue from the sugar sector and recovery of super tax from high-income earners to meet the revised target of Rs7,641 billion for 2023-23.

In this connection, the FBR chairman visited the office of LTO Lahore on Wednesday and held a detailed meeting on the assigned targets and performance review of LTO Lahore.

The meeting was chaired by the FBR chairman.

The meeting held at the LTO Lahore was also attended by the relevant Commissioners of the Inland Revenue LTO Lahore. The first meeting was recently held with the LTO officials at Karachi.

In the second phase of interaction with the LTO Lahore officials, tax authorities also directed the senior Inland Revenue officials of Lahore to enforce/monitor additional taxation measures taken through the mini-budget.

Sources told Business Recorder that the Chief Commissioner LTO Lahore gave a detailed presentation to the FBR chairman on the key areas of the achievement of the target from top taxpaying companies.

The strategy to meet the assigned target including enforcement and administrative measures within the territorial jurisdiction of LTO Lahore was also discussed in detail.

The LTO Lahore officials also shared the plan to achieve the assigned monthly target for March 2023. The potential areas of revenue collection and recovery was also presented before the tax authorities. The details of tax payments from major sectors, big corporate entities and multinational companies during the current fiscal year were also discussed during the meeting.

Tax officials also informed the FBR chairman about the recovery of the super tax imposed on high-income earners under Section 4C of the Ordinance of 2001. The super tax was imposed on the profits of wealthy corporations whose earnings exceeded Rs150 million through the Finance Act, 2022.

The government had inserted Section 4C in the Income Tax Ordinance to charge the super tax from 13 specific sectors. The government imposed a super tax on banks, cement, iron and steel, sugar, oil and gas, fertilisers, LNG terminals, textile, automobile, cigarettes, beverages, chemicals, and airlines.

The FBR has collected Rs4,493 billion in the first eight months of the current financial year against Rs3,820 billion collected in the corresponding period of last year depicting a year-over-year growth of 18 percent.

Meanwhile, a press release of the FBR said: The board chairman visited the LTO Lahore where he held a detailed meeting with the Chief Commissioner and Commissioners of LTO Lahore.

During the meeting, revenue collection for the period of July to February 2023 was discussed at length vis-a-vis targets assigned. A detailed discussion was held on challenges being faced in various sectors along with strategy to be adopted to achieve budgetary target for remaining months of the financial year.

The Chairman directed the LTO team to ensure that the new budgetary measures are enforced in letter and spirit. The sugar sector was specifically discussed at length to ensure collection of due taxes in the coming months.

The chairman FBR reiterated his resolve to achieve the budgetary target assigned to FBR and the team of LTO Lahore assured that they will make all-out efforts to attain the desired results despite import compression and challenging market conditions.

The Chairman directed the field formations to recover all pending arrears and expeditiously pursue cases pending in courts.

The chairman also discussed problems being faced by the field formations and assured to resolve them as soon as possible, it added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023