Provincial Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht on Friday welcomed the decision of a court on Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) and said that the decision about its legal status is praiseworthy. "It would boost the morale of the PRA," he added. He observed that the legal justification about the establishment of the PRA will increase the trust of taxpayers along with increasing tax collection system in the province.
"The PRA has proved its mettle with its immaculate performance," he added. Giving the background, he said the PRA started its journey in 2012 after the transfer of powers of receiving sales tax on services to the provinces under the 18th constitutional amendment and ensured increase in tax collection through computerization of tax collection system in the province.
He said that the PRA has collected Rs 100 billion as taxes in 2018-19 alone; Rs 17 billion were collected in June 2018 while this amount was only Rs 9 billion in 2017-18. He said that taxpayers are provided different services through the platform of PRA and one link online system has been introduced to ease the business activities.
"Customers' relationship management system is being introduced during the current fiscal year and the registration as well as the redressal of taxpayers' complaints will be possible through an automatic system. The PRA is the only provincial authority that is ensured complete implementation of Sales Tax Real-time Invoice Verification System through collaborative arrangements with the FBR," he added.
According to him, the PRA has educated the people about the importance of taxes payment and laid the foundation of a new tax culture in the province. In this regard, launch of internship programmes and inclusion of material about the importance of taxes in syllabi is important. He said that rules are being studied to deal with the matters relating to PRA staff and new recruitments, and assured that such issues will be solved very soon. "The responsibilities of PRA could be increased in coming days while the authority will continue its journey of success," he added.