Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) has trimmed sales tax on services from 16 to 2 percent with effect from January 11, 2016 and service providers must avail this opportunity without any further delay, said Imran Hayee, Commissioner PRA. He was addressing the business community at Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) here on Thursday.
Quoting his previous meeting in October last year at the FCCI, he said that they had identified the glaring anomalies in that meeting and as per the promise the PRA had not taken any punitive action during the last four months. He said, "We have now resolved this issue by reducing the sales tax on services from 16 to 2 percent and hence the tax payers should now fulfil their obligations by immediately registering themselves and paying their tax liabilities to the PRA."
He said that during the last year, the FBR had collected Rs 1200 million from textile processing sector of Faisalabad. There are 1200 registered companies out of which 800-900 are filers. "We had requested the FCCI to provide a list of these companies but they provided us a list of only 200 companies."
He again requested the President FCCI to provide a complete list of registered companies so that they may be provided facilitation in addition to taking action against those who are not falling within the ambit of the FCCI. He said that the PRA is a new entity and is still in facilitation mode and they want to continue this working relationship by extending maximum facilities to the tax payers.
Responding to a question, the Commissioner PRA said that they are trying their optimum best to resolve the practical and procedural complications but the tax payers should also fulfil their obligations by paying their due taxes to the PRA. He requested the President FCCI to form a committee comprising of representatives from all the concerned sectors so that their reservations could be addressed without any further delay.
He denied any clash between the PRA and FBR and said that as regards withholding tax, the tax payers have to comply with the necessary registration otherwise the PRA will be constrained to take punitive action. He also asked the FCCI to submit its request to set up help line of the PRA so that it could be forwarded to the authorities with proper recommendation.
Responding to yet another question, the commissioner PRA said that the registration of the PRA is made easy and simple and anybody can submit its application along with necessary documents including name, CNIC, NTN and bank account number. He told that the registration process is being completed within 24 hours.
The president FCCI appreciated the reduction of sales tax on services from 16 to 2 percent and particularly appreciated the efforts of Commissioner PRA who is very cooperative towards the tax payers. He said that local PRA officials have positive approach and are cooperating with the FCCI and tax payers by resolving their tax related issues on the top priority basis.
The participants of the meeting also expressed their apprehensions regarding collection of same tax by two different government authorities. The president FCCI also announced to form a committee comprising of Haji Talib Hussain (Sizing), Muhammad Ashraf (Processing), Amer Nisar (Weaving) and Zia Alamdar Hussain (Hosiery) to sit together and finalize their recommendations regarding sales tax on services which will be collected by the PRA. He said that he will also visit Islamabad to take up this issue with the FBR authorities to dispel the genuine apprehensions of the tax payers. During Question-Answer Session, Chaudhry Muhammad Boota, Chaudhry Muhammad Asghar, Amer Nisar and others took part and raised interesting questions while Muzammal sultan offered vote of thanks.
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