Parliament's nod needed: changes made in ST Act 1990 to introduce RGST, PAC body told

Mahmood Alam, Member Strategic Planning and Statistics (SP&S) Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has said that the required changes have been made in the Sales Tax Act, 1990 for introducing the Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST), which requires approval of the parliament.
Alam, who is the most senior FBR Member, informed the special committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) here on Monday that the RGST is not a new tax and only reforms has been introduced in the old Sales Tax Act 1990. "The GST is already applicable and only "R" has been added to the "GST" for introducing reforms in the sales tax regime," he added.
The FBR has removed distortions in the existing tax laws and introduced procedural changes in the sales tax laws for introducing the RGST. The RGST is merely a new name and the law is already in place in the name of the GST. The old sales tax regime has been revamped while drafting the RGST. However, it is the prerogative of the Parliament to either accept or reject the RGST. The FBR has no powers to take any decision on RGDT.
About the taxation of the services sector, Mahmood Alam said that the negotiations are underway between the federation and the provinces on the issue of GST on services. There should be a uniform rate on services and a single revenue collection agency may be authorised on the behalf of the provinces for collection of GST on services. The collection would be given to provinces, but there is a need for a uniform GST collection procedure on services and provinces may authorise a single agency like FBR to collect the levy. The changes in the system, reforms and automation would resolve all systemic issues raised by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP).
Responding to different special studies for past years, FBR Member said that some cases are related to post reform scenario and now massive changes have been introduced in the Customs Act and other reform initiatives have been taken to revamp the tax machinery.