The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has sent the draft of the Sales Tax Lucky Draw Rules-2011 (STLDS-2011) to the Law and Justice Division for vetting of the scheme, to be launched in January 2011. Sources told Business Recorder here on Saturday that the scheme would be launched after vetting of the proposed rules by the Ministry of Law.
The scheme would encourage voluntary sales tax registration of restaurants, food outlets and hotels to promote documentation of the economy through issuance of invoices to the consumers. Sources said that the STLDS-2011 would be notified through a statutory regulatory order (SRO). The notification would issue Sales Tax Lucky Draw Rules-2011 drafted by the FBR steering committee on the scheme.
Under this consumer-incentive scheme, the FBR would cover restaurants and similar food outlets, registered under Sales Tax Act 1990, through a lucky draw scheme to encourage voluntary registration of all those who are liable to pay/collect sales tax and to ensure that the tax deducted is also deposited to government treasury.
The scheme envisages promotion of voluntary registration of restaurants and food outlets, promote documentation through issuance of invoices and plug revenue leakages and would be issued under powers vested in FBR under preamble to FBR Act 2007 and section 4(1) (1) of the said Act.
The scheme would promote documentation; help in plugging of revenue leakages, increased voluntary sales tax registration; broaden tax base through invoice based information and create a data bank to deter tax evasion. The rules say that the customers availing food from restaurants/food outlets, shall obtain invoices (receipts, cash memos) and inform FBR in the manner prescribed.
The customers sending information of invoices along with their CNIC number under this Scheme shall be called participants in the scheme. The participants shall be subject to lucky draw through computer ballot to determine cash prizes. The personal information of participants will not be used for tax purpose in their individual cases. However, the information received regarding sales by restaurants/food outlets shall be utilised by FBR for objectives of documentation.