LAHORE: The Regional Tax Office (RTO) Lahore has postponed planned balloting of Point of Sale (POS) in the city on account of non-availability of Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), said reliable sources. “The chairman has cancelled his planned visit after a change of the government,” they added.
The RTO was due to organize balloting at Alhamra Hall on 15th of April where Iftar dinner was planned to be offered to the invitees. The Chairman FBR was supposed to be the chief guest on the occasion.
It may be noted that the RTO Lahore was spearheading the POS integration drive, pursuing 2700 T-1Rs for integration at present. The T-1Rs are supposed to having back and forth linkages, which would be helpful in bringing potential taxpayers to the system at a fast pace.
According to the sources, the RTO had integrated 57 retailers in December 2021, followed by 76 in January 2021, 112 in February 2021 and 120 in March 2022.
Meanwhile, crackdowns were also carried out against superstores in the city before the start of the holy month of Ramadan. Tax officials were also being deputed on these stores under section 40B to monitor their sales. Also, mystery shopping was also being made to assess actual sales of these superstores. He said there are around 90 superstores in the city out of which 20 have already been integrated with the POS system. Notices have been served upon the rest of the lot, he added.
However, the advent of the holy month as well as a change of government in the centre has stalled the drive altogether and most of the RTO officials are of the view that no big change is likely to take in the situation until the end of Ramadan.
It is also worth noting that the RTO Lahore has issued 528 applications from retailers seeking exclusion certificate from the POS integration system. Out of them, requests of 35 applicants have been turned down while accepting the remaining 470.
According to the sources, the objective of integration is to ensure of ease of doing business as well as tax collection through education of taxpayers by highlighting pros and cons of paying taxes accurately. The Board has made a policy shift by designating the role of internal ombudsman to field formations to resolve the issues of taxpayers instead of compelling them to approach the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) or higher courts for a relief.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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