FCCI chief lauds proposed incentives for non-filers

President FCCI Chaudhary Muhammad Nawaz has lauded the proposed incentives for the non-filers to bring them into tax net and urged the government to provide same incentives and facilities to the filers. In a statement issued on Monday, he said that classification of filers and non-filers prompted a long debate which also affected the normal business activities in the country.
He said Ministry of Finance initially imposed 0.6 percent withholding tax (WHT) on banking transactions by non-filers while it was only 0.3 percent for the filers. But after many protests staged by business community, the government withheld this decision for three months which was, however, again imposed from the month of October this year by reducing WHT from 0.6 percent to 0.3 percent by non-filers, he mentioned. He said, "This situation triggered confrontation between business community and the FBR that also give negative effect on the business activities. It also discouraged the banking industry as people preferred to switching over to the Hundi and other non-banking channels." President FCCI, however, expressed satisfaction that government is trying to resolve this ticklish issue and proposed very attractive incentives for the non-filers to bring them into the tax net.