Both the ill-intention of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) bureaucracy and inefficiency of the government have led to undue delay in issuance of Fixed Tax Regime for traders, causing negligible business transactions in the months of July and August and a reduction in the reported sales of the manufacturing sector by half.
According to the tax circles, the FBR can easily issue a circular regarding the fixed tax, especially, when the traders are themselves demanding for it amidst protests. They said the FBR has powers to introduce the fixed tax regime under the law and there is no need for legislation in this regard. Section 99B of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 has provided with a legal framework for issuance of a notification, they stressed.
They have blamed the tax bureaucracy for non-cooperation with the government, saying that the introduction of a fixed tax regime would close down the avenues of corruption for them because everyone would have a clear idea that how much tax should be collected from a certain area on the basis of FBR valuation for commercial properties notified for a particular area.
Unfortunately, they said, the government is helpless before the tax bureaucracy and is unable to implement a law announced by it on 9th March 2019 through a mini-budget by the then Finance Minister Asad Umar. The fixed tax would also bring down prices, they said.
Sources from the tax practitioners have further pointed that such corrupt elements within the FBR have also withdrawn support to chairman Shabbar Zaidi.
They said the traders are even ready to pay more tax under this regime once the valuation of their shops is determined by the FBR as it has done in the case of residential properties for the builders.
According to these circles, had this scheme been introduced by 1st of July, heavy revenue could be deposited by traders through by 30th September. But it seems that a confusion suits to the corrupt elements in the Board.
It may be noted that traders from across the country reached Islamabad to participate in the planned demonstration outside the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) headquarters as a deadlock persisted on issues ranging from mandatory sales tax registration to the condition of presenting a CNIC copy for buying and selling goods.
Since talks between the traders protesting against certain tax conditions and the government have failed, therefore, the All-Pakistan Anjuman-i-Tajiran (APAT) announced a countrywide shutter-down strike on Oct 28 and 29.
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