Invoices in bulk: Reconciliation: Tier-1 retailers complain about POS system

LAHORE: The tier-1 retailers have complained against the Point of Sale (POS) system for not allowing reconciliation of invoices in bulk.

The retailers have pointed out the problem in a workshop organized by the Corporate Tax Office (CTO) on the request of Lahore Tax Bar Association. A good number of tax practitioners, retailers and other taxpayers attended the workshop.

They said the system does not support a command for retrieval of data of sales in bulk as it fails to respond when data for sales of 10 days is sought in one go.

Therefore, we are left with no option but to get the sales data of each day one by one and export it to one place to reconcile.”

The focal persons were unable to understand the problem forthwith, saying that no such complaint has been pointed out earlier. However, they have advised retailers to contact their software vendors to redress the issue. Also, they advised them to lodge a formal complaint with them to be highlighted before the central office of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for a permanent solution. They further assured the retailers of following up with the Board for availability of the option of data reconciliation in bulk, if not available in the present one.

Some of the retailers have also apprehended leakage of their data on the part of software vendors. They asked what measures have been adopted by the Board to ensure sanctity of their sales data in a highly competitive environment. According to them, there are constant reports about cyber attacks on the Board data, which is a cause of worry for them by and large.

Responding to the fears of retailers, the concerned officials said the Board was vigilant to their concerns, therefore, the number of vendors has been increased. Already, they said, some 40 vendors are supplying software for attaching the sales of retailers to the centralized system.

They said the Board was ensuring a foolproof system to document the sales of tier-I retailers. However, the time is not far away when each and every street vendor would be required to install a machine for documentation of his sales, they stressed, adding that tax would be deducted automatically once the sales is documented.

It may be noted that compliance notices have been served upon 200 retail outlets of leather, sports and textile goods, falling under the category of Tier-1 retailers, for mandatory registration with the Point of Sale (POS) integration of the Federal Board of Revenue.

Meanwhile, penalties, ranging between Rs 0.5 million to Rs 2 million, have separately been imposed against about a dozen retailers for ignoring already issued notices despite providing reasonable opportunity. These outlets would be sealed off in the next step.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021