The government has transferred CBR Member Sales Tax Shahid Ahmed to Customs, Central Excise and Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal, placing his services at the disposal of Law and Justice Division, it is learnt. Mrs Musarrat Jabeen, CBR Member Tax Policy and Reforms, would look after the work of Member Sales Tax.
The change of Member Sales Tax was described as a surprise move, as nobody was expecting it due to the excellent performance of Sales Tax Wing during the last three years.
Shahid joined CBR as Member Sales Tax in August 2003. During his tenure, the sales tax collection surpassed the targets despite zero-rating of five major export sectors. Not a single association/sector had observed strike during his tenure despite levy of excise duty under VAT mode on various service providers during the last few years.
The CBR Sales Tax Wing was planning a collectors'' conference on October 18 at Sales Tax House, Lahore, and instructions were issued to the regional collectors on Friday to finalise working papers on important issues.
According to another directive issued to field formations the same day, Member ST wanted to convene a separate conference of sales tax collectors at the headquarters on October 16 to discuss audit and refund related issues. However, after Friday prayers, all sales tax officials of the Wing came back to the Board on hearing the news of his sudden transfer. When this correspondent tried to contact the outgoing Member Sales Tax, he was not available for comments.