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LAHORE: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is contemplating to introduce a maximum tax cap in the Income Tax Ordinance to promote tax culture in the country, said sources.

According to the sources, the FBR may suggest the government amendment in Section 113 of the Income Tax Ordinance that speaks about the minimum tax liability. As per the proposal, the amendment would insert the concept of maximum tax cap to encourage an assessee whether he has to offer himself for complete assessment by paying minimum tax liability or opt for the maximum tax cap to take himself out of the minimum liability as well as audit.

They said Section 113 has a limited scope and aims at cornering the taxpayer to pay a minimum tax on his/her turnover, whether his business was in profit or loss during the fiscal year. Tax expert and former legal advisor of FBR Sajjad Rizvi said the government should amend the same section of the Ordinance as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) has also advised the federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin the same.

He said the problem of FBR is understaffing. When a taxpayer turns up, the FBR staff demands each and every detail from him/her after taxing him too much. It creates trouble for the taxpayer who is already under stress due to economic ups and downs, he added.

When contacted, Advisor on Finance to Chief Minister Punjab Dr. Salman Shah said the idea behind the whole scheme of things is to provide an option to the taxpayer whether he wants to stay in the minimum tax regime or opting for the maximum tax cap. He said there is an overall need to bring down the tax rate, adding that the government was considering seriously to revise the sales tax rate in the next budget. When asked whether the government would revise it to a single digit, he avoided a direct answer, saying he had no exact idea in this respect.

He said the FBR is undergoing massive tax reforms and the federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin is aiming at modernizing and digitalizing its functions to make maximum use of data analysis. He said the federal government is also focused on implementing the universal self-assessment scheme and all types of audit systems would be outsourced to get rid of the old reputation of the organization.

On the issue of understaffing within the FBR, he said the government’s focus is on bringing in more technology and capacity building of the existing staff to carry out a professional assessment of taxpayers’ liabilities.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021

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