RAWALPINDI: The business community has demanded that the double taxation and anomalies be removed from the fiscal budget 2022-23. The procedure for fair-value assessment to collect tax on deemed income from an unused property and deemed rental income is not clear.

Litigation between landlord and tenant will increase manifold and caution that since more powers were given to Inland officers, the authority may be misused and likely to increase blackmailing and corrupt practices.

Tax slabs in proportion to the electricity bill are not realistic. Addressing a post-budget session at the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) President Nadeem Rauf said that the government must introduce incentives to broaden the tax net.

The Session was chaired by President Nadeem Rauf while on this occasion group leader Sohail Altaf, vice president Talat Awan, convener of tax affairs committee Faraz Fazal, Shehzad Malik, president of small chamber Sheikh Asif, representatives of Anjuman-e-Tajiran, Sheikh Hafeez, Tariq Jadoon, Tahir Taj Bhatti, Raja Jawad, executive members, and chamber members were also present.

Faraz Fazal, Convener of the Tax Affairs Committee, gave a detailed briefing on the key provisions and changes in the Income Tax and Sales Tax sections of the Fiscal Budget 2022. Group leader and former president Sohail Altaf said that no concessions or incentives have been given to the overseas Pakistanis who send billions of dollars in remittances to Pakistan every month.

At present, the country needs dollars, he added. The fixed tax regime for small traders is a welcome step; however, there is ambiguity in some cases which needs to be removed. The finance minister in his budget speech announced that there will be no audit for the next four years, but it has not been included in the budget document. We demand that the policy regarding tax audit be clarified, he said.

In the post-budget meeting, the 0.25 per cent tax imposed on the IT sector was opposed and it was demanded that the tax exemption for IT be maintained. The establishment of ADRC for resolving tax disputes is welcome but the limit of Rs100 million should be abolished, the moot said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022