Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) is going to miss its annual budgetary revenue target for fiscal year 2019-20. This was stated by Khalid Mehmood, chairman of SRB, at a meeting with businessmen held at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) here on Tuesday.
He said that SRB could not achieve its revenue target of Rs 145 billion fixed for financial year 2019-20 due to present economic slowdown but hoped to collect Rs 135 billion.
"If SRB revenue collection touches Rs 135 billion by the end of the ongoing fiscal then it would be around 35 percent revenue growth as compared to the preceding year," Khalid Mehmood said.
Furthermore, he said that SRB had witnessed 24-25 percent revenue growth since its inception and added that single return would be introduced in next couple of months.
He also admitted that tax compliance in Sindh province particularly in Karachi was much higher than any other province that helped SRB to maintain 25 percent revenue growth in the last eight years.
Replying to a question from the Chairman of Businessmen Group (BMG), Siraj Kassim Teli, he said that the SRB had already broken new grounds by slashing its tax rate from 16 percent to 13 percent, hoping to encourage other provincial tax authorities to do the same but this never happened. Khalid said that SRB could forward proposal to the Sindh government for further reduction in tax rates.
Despite having Rs 6 billion revenue impact of a percent reduction in tax rate, SRB has allowed specific sectors other than five major revenue sectors to pay its tax liability at reduced tax rates, he said.
Agha Shahab, president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), stressed upon SRB to remove WHT regime. Furthermore he said that all provincial governments should agree on consolidated returns for ease of doing business and added that SRB should resolve cases pending with the authority in an amicable manner. He also requested to reduce tax assessment period from 8 years to 5 years like federal revenue authority.
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