KARACHI: Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Mumtaz Haider Rizvi, accompanied by a delegation including Member Inland Revenue, Shahid H. Asad, all Chief Commissioners from large Taxpayers' Unit, and Regional Tax Office, Karachi, visited the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) on Tuesday.
An ICAP statement issued here said that the President of ICAP, Rashid Rahman Mir, welcomed the guests.
It said that both of the Institutions' Vice Presidents, Council members and members of the Committee on Taxation were also present in the meeting.
The Chairman Committee on Taxation, Saqib Masood, gave a presentation on the tax proposals submitted by the Institute to the FBR and the Government for consideration for the Federal Budget 2012-13.
He said that focus should be to broaden the tax base, instead of increasing the tax rate.
It was suggested that the amnesty schemes and fixed tax regime should be abolished, as these have proved to be what was called counter-productive.
Relevant laws should be amended to enable FBR to relate CNIC numbers when people buy and sell property and vehicle, make air travel, pay utility bills, schools fee and club subscriptions. These CNIC numbers may then be matched with NTN numbers by the department.
Appropriate check and balances should be introduced for foreign remittances, so that these may not be used to whiten money.
Saqib Masood emphasised the need to reduce the corporate tax rate to inculcate corporatisation culture in the country.
He also suggested that export of goods and services should be equated.
The statement said that unanimity of views were found between FBR and ICAP over broadening of tax base, documentation drive undertaken by FBR via SRO 191, reduction of duties and taxes on manufacturing and industrial sectors, and addressing the anomalies in direct and indirect tax laws.
The suggestion of removal of duplication of SROs 821 and 191 for better compliance was well received by the Chairman FBR.
ICAP also suggested that undesired immunity granted to certain sectors in SRO 821 may also be withdrawn and the law should be made applicable across the board, without any exception, to provide a level playing field to all sectors of the economy.
The ICAP statement further pointed out that the Chairman FBR apprised the participants of the various measures taken by the tax department to reduce taxpayers' difficulties and to ease tax compliances.
He lauded the role of ICAP in enhancing taxpayers' awareness and thanked the President ICAP and his team for the tax proposals furnished by the Institute.
He further appreciated the recommendations made by the Institute and assured that due consideration will be given to the proposals submitted by ICAP.
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