The Chairman of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Salman Saddique has assured Sarhad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) that their genuine reservations about implementation of Prime Minister's Finance Package will be removed to ensure that the stalled business and trade activities in the militancy-hit area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are revived.
Talking to a delegation of SCCI, headed by its President Afan Aziz and consisting of Senator Ilyas Ahmed Bilour, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, Muhammad Muhsin Wadud, Muhammad Asaf, Usman Bashir Bilour, Zahid Ullah Shinwari and Zulfiqar Ali Khan, which met with him in Islamabad on November 28, 2011, the FBR chief assured the delegation members that he would be visiting SCCI by mid-December to get himself briefed on the problems of the taxpayers.
Earlier, the SCCI chief listed a number of issues pertaining to the implementation of the Financial Package particularly related to Income tax. Ilyas Bilour noted that the Prime Minister had very clearly instructed that no taxes would be charged from KP for three years under the relief package.
Abiding by the spirit of the package, turnover tax and withholding tax on export should not be charged. The chairman of FB, agreed in principle, and promised to take necessary steps to ensure that the PM relief package was implemented in letter and spirit. Afan further pointed out the reluctance of sales tax authorities to pay refund, which was critical to local manufacturers as input tax was charged at full and output was charged at 50 percent as per the prime minister's relief package.
Sales tax authorities had previously refused refunds under the package, citing FIFO method as a reason. Afan said that the implementation of the original package needs to be done and denial of its benefit, under whatever pretext, should be done away with.
He added that if refunds are not paid to filers, the net impact of the Package in terms of sales tax refund would be negative. The sales tax on textile sector was also thoroughly discussed whereby the provision of 50percent exemption was not being allowed.
The chairman was also briefed by the delegation regarding lack of staff in the regional tax offices in Peshawar. This was leading to difficulties for all kinds of business activities.
The chairman of FBR assured the delegation that since he was Secretary Finance at the time of the proposition of this package and that he is well aware of the idea behind the package. Supporting their contention he stated that all anomalies indicated by the delegation were genuine problems and they would be sorted out. He further instructed the relevant departments to take necessary measures.