Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) wants to form a committee having representatives from the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry and other sectors to bridge the community gap.
This was stated by PRA Chairman Zain-ul-Abidin Sahi while speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Friday. LCCI Senior Vice President Ali Hussam Asghar, Vice President Mian Zahid Jawaid Ahmad, former President Mian Muzaffar Ali and former Vice President Kashif Anwar also spoke on the occasion while Commissioner Enforcement PRA Shahzad Mehmood Gondal, LCCI Executive Committee members Wasif Yousaf, Sheikh Sajjad Afzal, Fiaz Haider were present in the meeting.
The PRA chairman said that the proposed committee would have regular meetings so that policy decision can be made after due consultation with the stakeholders. An application has already been launched to have direct liaison with the taxpayers.
He said that there was a lot of development on tax harmonization between the provinces. Monthly meetings were being held between the representatives of the provinces and they have agreed on some matters. He said that a system was being designed under which a taxpayer would file a single return whether he is working in one or more than one provinces.
Automatic system would decide the tax segregation. He said that the provinces were expressing apprehension that it may affect the Ease of Doing Business Index therefore this system would be implemented sector wise. He said that telecom sector has been chosen at the first phase. He was optimistic that system would be in working during the ongoing calendar year.
To a question, the chairman said that provincial tax were already being collected through online banking channels while facilities of credit and debit cards would also be available soon.
He said that uniformity in Sales Tax in all provinces was very difficult. He said that Punjab Infrastructure Development Cess (PIDC) cannot be abolished but a middle way can be found in consultation with the stakeholders. “We want to bring down the rate of litigation’, the chairman said.
The LCCI president said that currently revenue collections of Punjab fell under Punjab Revenue Authority, (PRA), Excise & Taxation and Board of Revenue (Punjab). To enhance the ease of doing business in Punjab province, it was proposed that the responsibility of collecting all tax revenues should be given to PRA.
He said that Sales Tax on services was being charged at different rates by Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) and Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) which created an environment of competition among the provinces. Uniform rate of Sales Tax on services should be charged by all the provinces. The high tax rates in Punjab resulted in shifting of various services providing industries to other provinces.
He added that frequency of taxes needed to be reduced. Filing of returns of Sales Tax on Services should be allowed on quarterly/six monthly basis. All payments related to PRA should be accepted through ‘Credit card / debit card, direct debit or using internet banking’.
