The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) may withdraw income tax Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs) which are time-bound, misplaced/misclassified, redundant or minimally utilised under the government's policy to phase out SROs in budget (2015-16), it is learnt. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar chaired a meeting of the high-level committee on regularisation of concessionary regime in the spheres of customs, sales tax and income tax at the FBR House here on Friday.
Sources told Business Recorder that the budget makers have worked out 18 such SROs for withdrawal which are time-bound, misplaced/misclassified, redundant or minimally utilised. Out of such 18 SROs, time-barred SROs are 5, misplaced SROs 7 and redundant SROs 6. The second proposed policy for withdrawal of income tax SROs in coming budget is to take away such notification if an exemption is given to interest groups. The FBR may withdraw 7-8 such SROs issued to the interest groups. The FBR may retain 20-22 critical SROs of direct taxes in the upcoming budget. Following sales tax exemptions SROs may be transposed to Sixth Schedule of the Sales Tax Act: SRO880(1)12007 dated 01.09.2007 (To exempt diagnostic kits or equipment); SRO76(1)12008 dated 23.01.2008 (to exempt the whole of sales tax chargeable on the supplies made by manufacturers of marble and granite having annual turnover less than five million); SRO.115(1)/2008 dated 06.02.2008 (to exempt for a period of forty year, the whole of sales tax chargeable on the imports and supply of materials and equipments for construction and operation of Gwadar Port); SRO.326(1)/2008 dated 29.03.2008 (To exempt from the whole of customs duties, sales tax and federal excise duty and income tax leviable on all the goods imported into and exported from an Export Oriented Unit); SRO.483(1)/2008 dated 28.05.2008 (to exempt the whole of sales tax chargeable on the supply and import of machinery and equipment, imported by financial services providers authorised by State Bank of Pakistan under the Asian Development Program for Improving Access to Financial Services Program and SRO.539(1)/2008 dated 11.06.2008 (to exempt the goods specified in column (3) of the Table below, imported for the manufacture of goods specified in column (2) of the said Table, (PVC Medical Grade, Polystyrene Medical Grade, Latex Tube.)
Following sales tax exemptions SROs may be transposed to Sixth Schedule of the Sales Tax Act: SRO41(1)/2009 dated 19.01.2009 (Incentive Package for special industrial zones/Economic Exempt from customs duty and sales tax); SRO.42(1)/2009 dated 19.01.2009 (Incentive Package for the development of Pak-China Investment Zones: Exempt from customs duty and sales tax); SRO.408(1)/2010 dated 22.6.2012 (exemption from whole of the sales tax chargeable on blood bag CPDA-1 with blood transfusion set pack in Aluminium foil with set; SRO760(1)/2012 dated 22.6.2012 (exempt urine drainage bags; SRO.499(1)/2013 dated 12.6.2013 (exempt from duty sales tax and withholding tax on import of hybrid electrical vehicles); SRO.84(1)/2015 dated 28.1.2015 (to exempt from payment of whole of sales tax on the import and supply of raw material for the basic manufacture of pharmaceutical active ingredients and for manufacture of pharmaceutical products.
Following sales tax SROs concessionary may be transposed to 8th Schedule of the Sales Tax Act: SRO.657(1)/2013 dated 11.7.2013 (Sales tax at the rate of 5% on import and local supply of second hand and worn clothing falling under PCT heading No 9309.000); SRO.572(1)/2014 (sales tax at 10% on import of supply of agricultural tractors).
A press release issued here on Friday said: Finance Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar chaired meeting of the high level committee on regularisation of concessionary regime in the spheres of customs, sales tax and income tax. The meeting among others was attended by Chairman BOI, Miftah Ismail, Advisor Finance Division, Rana Assad Amin, Chairman FBR, Tariq Bajwa, senior officials of other Ministries and FBR, Mian Mohammad Idrees, President Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Karachi, Maqsood Butt, president Lahore Chamber of commerce and Industry, Sanzei Abbasi Pakistan Petroleum Exploration Association & Production Companies Association and various stakeholders including other members of the business community.
The meeting held at Federal Board of Revenue Friday morning reviewed the measures/proposals regarding the second phase of withdrawal of the concessionary regime. The first phase was successfully completed last year. The final phase, would likewise be undertaken in the fiscal year 2016-17. The Finance Minister expressed the hope that the committee would further build on the hard work already done by the FBR and come up with positive recommendations.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, it may be recalled while highlighting complexities in the tax system arising due to discriminatory exemptions/concessions in budget speech 2013-14, had announced establishment of a committee for reviewing the whole concessionary regime (SROs). The Committee since has come a long way in regularising the concessionary regime.
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