ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee, on Friday, unanimously gave recommendations for the inclusion of insurance guarantee, bank guarantee, and cheque for substances registered as drugs and medicaments under the Drug Act, 1976, and further recommended that the release of guarantee may also be time bound.

Senate Standing Committee on Finance Revenue and Economic Affairs met for the third consecutive day under the chairmanship of Senator Muhammad Talha Mahmood, here at the Parliament House on Friday.

The committee also recommended a bank guarantee on the oil and steel industry. It also sought details from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on the cases pending with regards to the release of guarantees. The FBR assured the committee that the report will be submitted within a fortnight.

A public petition by Muhammad Fayyaz Qureshi, Vice Chairman Pakistan Gems Jewelry Traders and Exporters Association was referred to the FBR. The chairman FBR invited all the stakeholders including exporters and importers for a Public Hearing to obtain a single solution, in consensus, on the matter of 17pc sales tax on import and supply of gold and silver in unworked condition and articles of jewelry.

The committee also proposed a recommendation that a meeting should be held with the Senate Committee on Commerce, the Finance Committee, the FBR, and all the stakeholders to deliberate on the issue of the growing culture of smuggled gold in the country.

Goods imported by diplomats, missions: Senate panel supports imposition of 17pc GST

The chairman FBR assured that the FBR is working on levied tax in the agriculture sectors. “All differences in sales tax should be eliminated in the next five months”, the chairman FBR stated. The committee unanimously agreed on the proposition of fully documenting the matchbox industry. The committee proposed recommendations to increase the fixed tax on match stick material from Rs90 to Rs110 per kg.

The chairman FBR informed the committee that machinery is being imported more than raw material, in export processing zones. The committee approved the imposition of sales tax on imported machinery of export processing zones. The chairman FBR stated that the main problem in erstwhile FATA is the postdated checks.

The FATA industries have given fake checks, he added. The committee believed that the import of erstwhile FATA should be stopped till full tax payment. The meeting was attended by Senator Zeeshan Khanzada, Farooq Hamid Naek, Saleem Mandiviwalla, Sherry Rehman, Mohsin Aziz, Dilawar Khan, Faisal Subzawari, Faisal Saleem Rehman, and Masadik Masood Malik. The chairman FBR and senior officials of the attached departments were also in attendance.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022