The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has submitted amendments to the Finance Bill (2005-06) to the National Assembly on Tuesday after its vetting by the Law and Justice Ministry. Official sources told Business Recorder that the CBR's amendment bill has been vetted by the Law and Justice Division without introducing any major amendments to the tax proposals of sales tax, customs, income tax and central excise duty (CED).
Most of the amendments made to the Finance Bill included changes in the Pakistan Customs Tariff (PCT) headings of a few items to rectify errors. The errors in the PCT headings pertaining to items liable to zero-rating of sales tax would be rectified through issuance of a notification, which is not part of the Finance Bill.
The officials said that the CBR has also given 'explanation' wherever required in the bill and minor mistakes have been corrected in the Sixth Schedule of the Sales Tax Act, 1990.
An anomaly pertaining to levy of central excise duty (CED) on an item would also be rectified through issuance of an SRO without changing the Finance Bill.
All the wings of the CBR remained busy on Tuesday to finalise changes in the Finance Bill. To ensure timely completion of this exercise, CBR Chairman Abdullah Yusuf has postponed Board-in-Council meeting, scheduled to be held on Saturday.