Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar has assured commercial importers that anomalies in the sales tax software will be removed. He said this, taking notice of show cause notices to commercial importers. A joint delegation of Pakistan Chemicals & Dyes Merchants Association (PCDMA) and Indenters Association of Pakistan under the leadership of Saquib Fayyaz Magoon, former vice president FPCCI called on the minister of state Hammad Azhar. Shahid Waseem, chairman and Saleem Nini and vice chairman PCDMA were also part of the delegation.
The minister said government would resolve all their problems and anomalies, including those related to SRO 1125, on priority basis. He said the PTI government believes in friendly trade environment in the country. He also assured to resolve the issue of show cause notices which they were served due to anomalies.
Saquib Fayyaz Magoon pointed out that chemical manufacturers and commercial importers of items listed in SRO 1125 were facing problems and receiving undue notices due to anomalies in CREST and this soft3are needs modification. He said that SRO 1125 was applicable after reducing a long list of multipurpose items (used by all industries) to a very short list of those items which are mainly used in five zero-rated sectors such as textile, leather, carpet, surgical and sports.
Magoon requested to make it simple and zero rated should be charged on sale of all chemicals listed in SRO 1125. He suggested govt should focus on generation of business and economic activities to increase revenue. Only business-friendly atmosphere and ease of doing business policies could flourish economic activities and export, he said. "Tax policy makers should take trade associations on board in the tax policy-making process because particular sector's trade association is able to highlight real issues at micro level of its sector," he said.