Compulsory e-filing sales tax returns: collectors told to individually advise corporate units

The Collectors of sales tax have individually approached the corporate companies and top business entities, registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), for electronically filing sales tax and federal excise returns.
In this connection, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has dispatched the lists of units to the collectorates of sales tax for compulsorily e-filing of returns.
Sources told Business Recorder on Monday that the board has issued instructions to field formations to directly approach the corporate companies for returns e-filing. It is a unique kind of e-filing where regional officials are approaching the companies to file the returns electronically.
According to the directive, the board has obtained data of taxpayers registered as corporate units with SECP. These units have not filed returns for the July-August 2007 tax period through web-portal system, required under rule 18 of the Sales Tax Rules 2006, read with Sales Tax General Order (STGO) No 4 of 2007.
Collectors should intimate all the registered persons in the last, individually, about the legal obligations of e-filing through web-portal from tax period July 2007 onwards with the request to fulfil their legal obligations in future.
The regional tax authorities should advise the corporate units to immediately e-file their monthly sales tax returns for tax period July and August 2007, the directive said.
Sources said that the Sales Tax Department has separately issued lists of big units registered with the collectorates and Regional Tax Offices (RTOs) for filing of returns, electronically.
They said that the FBR has issued many instructions on e-filing during the last two months to the regional offices. It is important to mention that the board had extended the date for filing of sales tax-cum-federal excise return and invoice summary statement for the tax period September, 2007 to October 23, 2007.
Under the new system, taxpayers would not be bound to use Microsoft Windows as software. It could be run on any of the operating systems. E-filing procedures in force before July 1, 2007 shall be discontinued and those taxpayers who wish to file any returns for the tax periods June 2007 or earlier shall have to do so manually. The electronic returns can be filed directly by a registered person or through an e-intermediary licensed under the Sales Tax Rules, 2006.