Sindh Excise and Taxation (E&T) department is chalking out strategies to boost up the recovery of professional tax in order to achieve assigned targets for financial year 2019-20.

According to details, Sindh minister for Excise and Taxation & Narcotics Control and Parliamentary Affairs Mukesh Kumar Chawla has directed the officers concerned to chalk out strategies to boost up the recovery of professional tax in order to achieve assigned targets for financial year 2019-20.

The directives were made at a meeting held at his office here. Secretary Excise and Taxation & Narcotics Control Abdul Haleem Shaikh, Director General Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui and other officers also attended the meeting.

The minister at a meeting ordered to take those officers to task, who remained unable to achieve assigned targets; adding that the officers should take personal efforts and mobilize themselves for the purpose.

DG Excise and Taxation & Narcotics Control Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui said that letters were sent to Security Exchange Companies of Pakistan, the government, semi-government, autonomous bodies and semi-autonomous bodies having the registration of contractors of various categories and number of employees enrolled with them for bringing new units into professional tax net, but no response had been received yet.

Consequently, the minister advised to write them letters again on the issue and convene meetings with small traders/electronic market associations to bring them into tax net.

He also directed to report the names of non-cooperative officers/staff who had failed to achieve the monthly tax collection targets, asking the competent authority to recommend specific action against them and added that all paid challans must be updated and authenticated immediately in computer system as per Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).