PIAF urges FBR to withdraw amendment

LAHORE: Pakistan Industrial and Traders Associations Front (PIAF) has urged the Federal Board of Revenue to withdraw amendment in section 21 of Sales Tax Act 1990 as the amendment is totally against business norms and ethics.

In a statement issued here Wednesday, the Chairman PIAF Engineer Sohail Lashari, after having a meeting with a delegation of Foundry Association of Pakistan, said that the amendment suggests that any registered person, including vendors of Auto parts and manufacturers will not be allowed input tax credit even for genuine invoices against genuine transactions if later on the supplier is black listed for whatever reason or default on his part.

Chairman PIAF said that practically this is not possible to see in future. A party working with any other business group or person cannot be adjudged at the time of genuine transactions today that in future it will be black listed by FBR therefore how the transactions made today along with Sales Tax paid can be denied input tax credit.

This deviation from the settled law through courts is also against the FBR's own stand of logics vide order No. 6 of 2003 which reads it is vividly clear that the proposed amendment by way of insertion of sub Section (3) in Section 21 is illogical, unjust and against the all canons of justice. It is neither practicable nor enforceable as the system may collapse due to very heavy taxation involved on such black listing of supplier.

The Chairman PIAF said that it is in the larger interests of the economy of the country that all sorts of changes in economy related laws are made in consultation with concerned stakeholders as policies made in isolation would not work in present circumstances.

Copyright PPI (Pakistan Press International), 2011