KP govt, SBP, 1-Link sign agreement to collect taxes through ADCs

PESHAWAR: To facilitate taxpayers and further simplify tax payment procedure, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, State Bank of Pakistan and 1-Link signed an agreement to collect government taxes through Alternative Delivery Channels (ADCs).

The ADCs will enable the taxpayers in the province to submit their taxes particularly the sales tax on services directly from their cell phones, computers and from ATMs thus relieving them from personally visiting designated banks for submitting their taxes to the government.

The agreement was signed at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Department amongst the KP government, State Bank of Pakistan and 1-Link at the Civil Secretariat Peshawar. KP Finance Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra and Spokesperson KP government Kamran Khan Bangash, Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dr Kazim Niaz, Secretary Finance Atif Rehman and Director General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority (KPRA) Fayyaz Ali Shah and senior officials of the provincial government attended the ceremony.

Secretary Finance Atif Rehman, Chief Executive Officer 1-Link Najeeb Agrawalla, Director of Finance State Bank of Pakistan Qader Bakhash signed the agreement on the occasion.

KPRA Director General Fayyaz Ali Shah signed a joint agreement with Pakistan Revenue Automation Private Limited (PRAL) along with a memorandum of understanding for the functioning of the ADCs.

Speaking on the occasion the Finance minister said that the provincial government has been doing its best to facilitate the taxpayers and bring simplicity in the tax payment system through digitization and the ceremony was one of the steps the government has been taking under the leadership of the Chief Minister Mahmood Khan.

He appreciated DG KPRA Fayyaz Ali Shah and his team for the tremendous performance of KPRA.

“Two years back the revenue generation from sales tax on Services was stagnant at Rs 10 billion,” the minister said adding that this year the revenue generation will touch Rs 21 billion.

“Despite Covid-19, the KPRA increased its revenue collection from Rs 10 billion to Rs 17 billion. If we achieved Rs 22 billion revenue collection this year then it will be 120 percent growth in the two years which may be unprecedented in the history of Pakistan,” he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021