Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority established

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority (KPRA) has been established under the Excise and Taxation Department with the mandate to collect sale tax on services. A ceremony to formally inaugurate the authority and launch its web portal was held at Chief Minister Secretariat Peshawar on Thursday.
The establishment of the authority was necessitated under the 18th Constitutional Amendment as earlier Federal Board of Revenue used to collect the said tax. The amendment has empowered the provincial governments to collect the tax in their respective provinces.
Provincial Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Israrullah Gandapore, on behalf of the chief minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was chief guest on the occasion.
Besides Senior Provincial Minister Siraj-ul-Haq, Advisor to Chief Minister on Excise and Taxation, Jamshed-ud-Din Kakakhel, Chief Secretary, Arbab Mohammad Shehzad, and administrative heads of provincial departments and others attended the function.
Addressing the function, the chief guest said that the KPRA should have been established at least two years ago but unfortunately the last provincial government did not pay any heed to the matter, adding that the present government had made the establishment of KPRA possible within a short period of only two months for which it deserved appreciation.
He said that tax was a basic and important thing for the economic stability of any government or state while the trust of the public and the tax payers were important for the collections of maximum tax.
Addressing the function, Advisor to KP Chief Minister for Excise and Taxation, Jamshed-ud-Din Kakakhel said the establishment of KPRA would have a far reaching effect on the economic stability of the province. He said that the collection of sale tax on services was a power but at the same time it was a huge responsibility and it demanded professional and moral integrity on the part of the authorities of the KPRA to admirably discharge the responsibility.
On this occasion, Senior Minister, Siraj-ul- Haq stressed the need to gain the trust of the tax payers to make the maximum collection of taxes possible.
Earlier, secretary Excise and Taxation, Raheel Ahmad Siddiqui highlighted the objectives, functions mandate and other aspects of the establishment of the KPRA. He made it clear that the KPRA was not supposed to impose any new taxes rather it would collect the sale tax on services which the Federal Board of Revenue used to collect earlier. He told that the KPRA had set a target of six billion rupees to be achieved by the collection of the said sale tax during the current fiscal years.