Electricity and gas: 'Informal' letters issued to unregistered consumers

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued informal letters to all unregistered commercial and industrial consumers of electricity and gas to register with the tax department.

According to the FBR's biannual review 2019-20 issued Monday, the FBR has obtained data from distribution companies (DISCOs) and gas companies for broadening of tax base. In this regard, the data of more than 3.5 million industrial and commercial users gathered and informal letters issued to all such consumers nudging them for registration.

Industrial and commercial data of DISCOs has been obtained which is being utilized for registration of those traders who have obtained commercial or industrial connections but are not registered for sales tax.

The FBR said that the reform efforts are being carried out at greater scale by the revenue organization both on the policy and administrative fronts. Some of the major initiatives taken by FBR included identifying and check evasion by High Net worth Individuals; plaza mapping at Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad; launch of Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) to control smuggling of mobile devices; discouraging imports of luxurious goods through additional Regulatory Duties (RDs) and forensic audit in Sugar, Tobacco and Steel Industries to address leakages and tax evasion and in these industries.

On the customs side, more contribution/collection through realizing stuck-up revenue through administrative measures like auctions, recovery, litigation disposal etc; enhance effectiveness of the Risk Management Process/Establishment of National Targeting Centre to prevent loss of revenue through misdeclarations in values, quantities, & description; strengthening of Post Clearance Audit Organization and Function to ensure that consignments cleared through Green channel are scrutinized and possible evasions/short payments are recovered; design, develop and roll out of WeBOC-global for ease of doing business and promote bona fide imports, the FBR added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020