KARACHI: Shahid Iqbal, chief commissioner Large Taxpayers Office (LTO), on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of taxpayers’ harassment after the restoration of bank account attachment powers of the commissioners, saying that no bank account would now be attached only after the approval of the committee headed by the chief commissioner.
During his visit to the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), he said that the powers, conferred under section 140 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 and section 48 of the Sales Tax Act 1990 to the commissioners, had been restored but there are not possibilities of taxpayers’ harassment because no bank account would be attached without prior approval of the committee headed by the concerned chief commissioner.
He said that the incumbent government had relaxed its policy and all refunds up to Rs.50 million in 2020 had been released by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) while the tax refunds prior to the tax year 2020 was subjected to the funds of the ministry of finance.
Furthermore, he said that the department was only conducting sector-based audit and no audit exercise was being carried out for small medium enterprise (SMEs) and others. He said that the purpose of the Point of Sales (POS) was to document the economy, which would ultimately benefit the retail sector.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Hanif Lakhani and Nasir Khan, vice presidents FPCCI said that the audit notices were uninterruptedly being issued to the members of the federation despite the assurance given by the member IR during his visit to the FPCCI.
They expressed concern over the restoration of bank account attachment powers to the commissioner and urged the chief commissioner to ensure it would not be used as a tool for the taxpayers’ harassment.
Mohsin Abbas, convener AFU committee of FPCCI highlighted that the freight forwarders had also been included in Tier-1 Retailers and the department was now forcing for POS integration.
Moreover, he also termed the imposition of 3 percent turnover tax on the freight forwarders from July 2021 as unjustified, saying that the freight forwarders could not pay 3 percent turnover tax against their 2.5 percent margin.
Similarly, Zeeshan Maqsood also cited that the FBR had also included tea importers in Tier-1 Retailers, urging to exclude them from POS integration. Later, the Shahid Iqbal has asked the business community to submit their proposals for further deliberations with the FBR.
The meeting was attended by the Shakeel Ahmad Kasana, commissioner IR, Anees Memon, Deputy Commissioner, Abdul Hameed Mangrio, Deputy Commissioner and others.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
Comments
Comments are closed.