Central Board of Revenue (CBR) Chairman M. Abdullah Yusuf on Wednesday directed the sales tax collectors to conduct a sectoral study in the areas of their respective jurisdictions to identify the sectors, which have the potential to pay more taxes.
Addressing the quarterly conference of sales tax and federal excise collectors, he said that the major thrust should be on the expansion of the tax base in order to generate more revenue.
He said that the overall revenue collection in the first nine months stood at Rs 490 billion and hoped that the annual collection would be around Rs 708 billion against the target of Rs 690 billion.
The conference considered, in detail, a number of proposals for the formulation of the next federal budget. The proposals will be finalised in consultation with all the stakeholders.
The CBR chairman directed the Sales Tax Department to improve Sales Tax Automated Refund Repository (STARR) to ensure speedy processing of refund claims filed by the exporters. He stressed upon the need to improve and upgrade STARR programme for removing faults in the existing system.
He directed the concerned officials to immediately remove all the weaknesses in STARR and STREAM systems to address the concerns of the taxpayers. He also asked the officials to ensure that new automated system does not allow manipulation detected in the past in issuance of wrong refunds.
"The new system must ensure equity, transparency and efficiency," he added. He directed the collectors to keep a strict vigil over the claimants of refunds using fake/bogus invoices.
Expressing satisfaction over the achievement of sales tax and federal excise collection targets set for July-March 2005-06, he hoped that the trend would continue in the last quarter as well.
While reviewing the goals/targets set for sales tax registration, the chairman advised that all problems be resolved on priority basis to achieve the desired results.
Shahid Ahmed, Member, Sales Tax, informed the conference that the sales tax collection stood at Rs 202.452 billion in July-March 2005-06 against Rs 165.379 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year, reflecting an increase of 22.4 percent. Similarly, the collection of excise duty also showed an increase of 3.3 percent, he added.
The growth in sales tax and federal excise duty (FED) was recorded in major revenue spinners. POL products witnessed 10 percent growth; telecommunication, 36 percent; sugar, 6 percent; cigarettes, 12 percent; cement, 13 percent; and beverages registered growth of 28.4 percent.
Later, Khwaja Tanvir Ahmed, Member, Tax Policy and Reforms, briefed the participants over the progress on the opening of 12 regional tax offices (RTOs) and one LTU in 2006-07.
He said that four RTOs in Abbottabad, Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Hyderabad would become fully operational by December this year. All the administrative formalities are being completed, he added.