Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer has on Friday summoned the Provincial Assembly to meet on Saturday at 6pm to take up Value Added Tax (VAT) bill. It was learnt that the session has been called to make legislation on Value Added Tax (VAT) in order to allow the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to collect VAT on its behalf. All the Provincial Assemblies have to pass the VAT bill by March 28.
It may be noted that the need for such a legislation by the Provincial Assemblies arose after the federal government decided to replace General Sales Tax (GST) with VAT. Thorough the enactment of new legislation, on the behalf of provinces the FBR will collect VAT, which would later be distributed among them in light of the 7th NFC Award. However, the federal government would retain one percent of the total collection as collection charges.