Condition of CNIC number, NTN deferred till December 31

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) would not be able to obtain computerised national identity card (CNIC) numbers or national tax numbers (NTNs) of unregistered wholesalers, distributors and dealers etc from manufacturers as the implementation of SRO 821(I)/2011 has been suspended up to December 31, 2011.
A senior government official told Business Recorder here on Saturday that the FBR has taken the decision after meetings with the business and trade associations of Karachi to further suspended the decision of collecting CNICs/NTNs from the un-registered buyers and sellers. The Board has further extended up to December 31, 2011 suspension period for not implementing the major documentation measure for all categories of taxpayers by not demanding CNICs/NTNs of unregistered buyers.
Now, the taxpayers would not be required to disclose the information of the CNICs/NTNs about the un-registered buyers in the sales tax returns to be filed by January 15, 2012. Earlier, the FBR had decided not to collect this information for the tax periods of September and October 2011 and sales tax returns to be filed on November 15, 2011 would not be required to submit CNICs/NTNs of the un-registered buyers and sellers.
In Karachi, the FBR accepted the demand of the business community for not collecting this information for the tax period of December and sales tax returns to be filed by January 15, 2011. Resultantly, SRO 821(I)/2011 would be implemented from next year which has further delayed the implementation of the documentation measure to collect data of wholesalers, distributors and dealers, who are already liable to be registered.
Following this new development, the FBR will issue another letter to all chief Commissioners of LTUs and RTOs so that the requirement of furnishing the CNIC or NTN of unregistered buyers as prescribed under SRO 821(I)/2011 dated September 6, 2011 shall become mandatory for the invoices issued on or after January 1, 2012.
In this connection, the FBR has further suspended the implementation of SRO 821(I)/2011 for all taxpayers including manufacturers for another one month ie up to December 31, 2011. During this period, the FBR would complete the nation-wide consultative process with the business and trade on the submission of the NTNs/CNICs of the un-registered buyers/sellers of all leading sectors. In this way, the FBR would be able to convince the business community, particularly manufacturers, to ensure submission of the NTNs/CNICs of their un-registered buyers/sellers, the official added.