ISLAMABAD (July 29, 2010): Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday constituted a Special Committee headed by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh to finalise collection of Reformed GST within two weeks. Gilani was chairing meeting of the Special Economic Co-ordination Committee and announced its constitution comprising the finance secretaries and experts of all the provinces.

ISLAMABAD (July 29, 2010): The Federal Board of Revenue has decided to continue with the existing sales tax regime under the Sales Tax Act, 1990 till the federal government resolves all issues relating to sales tax on services sector with provinces. Sources told Business Recorder here on Wednesday that the issue of reformed general sales tax (GST) was discussed threadbare during the last board-in-council meeting chaired by FBR Chairman Sohail Ahmed.

ISLAMABAD (July 29, 2010): The first ever study of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Accountability in Public Sector of Pakistan suggested merger of Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) anti-corruption and economic crimes functions with National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for setting up a specialised autonomous Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA).

ISLAMABAD (July 28, 2010): A high-level meeting on Wednesday (July 28) ahead of the Cabinet meeting will review the overall economic situation and also try to resolve differences between the Centre and Sindh over the imposition and collection of reformed GST, Business Recorder has learnt.

ISLAMABAD (July 28, 2010): Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Tuesday directed the Federal Board of Revenue to explain the reasons for revenue shortfall during 2009-10 and strategy to achieve the revenue target of Rs 1.667 billion in 2010-11. Sources told Business Recorder here on Tuesday that the Senate Standing Committee on Finance has written a letter to FBR Chairman Sohail Ahmed to explain the reasons of revenue shortfall in a meeting expected to be convened on July 30, 2010.

ISLAMABAD (July 27, 2010): The Federal Board of Revenue would utilise information of credit cards to check the actual sales at large retail stores and outlets in posh areas across the country to document transactions/turnover of retail shops under 'broadening the tax base plan' for 2010-11.

KARACHI (July 27, 2010): The rate of sales tax on services, which has to be uniform in all provinces, has individually been increased in Punjab through Punjab Finance Act 2010, creating problems especially for banking, insurance, and telecom sectors in complying with the law.

ISLAMABAD (July 26, 2010): Ministry of Finance has not revised the ambitious revenue collection target of Rs 1,667 billion for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), as the tax authorities have dispatched an annual collection plan (2010-2011) to the concerned FBR members for meeting the monthly and quarterly targets set for current fiscal under the new strategy to focus on priority areas including new registrations with the income tax and sales tax departments.

ISLAMABAD (July 25, 2010): The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has recommended that the customs tariff on import of new cars must be reduced across the board to curtail protection to manufacturers, bringing it down to 5-10 percent as presently car importers are paying excessively high duties at the import stage.

ISLAMABAD (July 25, 2010): A huge amount of tax liability of Federal Excise Duty (FED) under Sales Tax mode, raised against a leading cellular company by Large Taxpayer Unit (LTU) Islamabad, has been challenged where provisions of section 36 of the Sales tax Act 1990 have been invoked to create a demand of over Rs 400 million against the company.