LAHORE: The Regional Tax Office (RTO) has preferred to slowdown registration of Tier-1 Retailers (T-1Rs) under the Point of Sale (POS) integration in the wake of uncertainty after a change of government in the centre.
According to reliable sources, the concerned officials have focused on clearing the backlog until the situation gets clear about the future course of action. They have further pointed out that the ongoing holy month of Ramazan is another reason behind the slowdown of the integration activities.
When asked whether there were some directions to slowdown the activity, sources said despite the fact that direction is very clear that POS integration would go as per original plan but the prevailing political situation is not clear.
The RTO sources said field work has been slowed down and all the activities are restricted to telephonic surveys for POS integration. So far, they said, the RTO has integrated 140 textile, leather and sports T-1Rs. The integration was started back in July 2021 and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had recently allowed its field formations to seal T-1Rs outlets by amending provisions relating to penalties of Sales Tax Act, 1990.
Changes have been incorporated to section 25 and section 33, authorising the field formations to seal the Tier-1 outlets found involved in issuing three receipts in a day or five in a week without a Quick Response (QR) code. Furthermore, the field formations were also authorised to seal outlets failing to get integrated despite falling in the requisite category, sources added.
According to sources, the field formations were in the process of data analysis regarding Tier-1 retailers to implement the amended law ahead. “We have started working on the data and have found a large number of retail outlets not issuing QR code-laden receipts to their customers,” said one source requesting anonymity.
However, a change of government in the centre has put the process on backburner, as the field formations are expecting major postings and transfers ahead. It may be noted that the RTO has also postponed the planned holding of POS balloting in the city, scheduled to take place on 15th of April after cancellation of the visit of Chairman FBR for the same. Sources said initially there were reports that Chairman is arriving in the city to chair the balloting.
However, there was a change of schedule after a change of government in the centre, they added.
Sources have expressed the hope that the situation would only be cleared after the end of Ramazan. However, they haven’t agreed with the fact that the retailers would be using their connections with a pro-traders government of Pakistan Muslim League-N to avoid integration with POS. They said the no government could reverse the process now, as it is a big source of revenue generation and the present government would also resist to the shutter power of retailers.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022