President of SITE Association of Industry Muhammad Kamran Arbi has, in a press statement, once again demanded the government to immediately withdraw the SRO-350, ab initio, in the wake of being ambiguous in nature. He said that the major public utility company – SSGC and K-Electric have not yet been able to file their sales tax return for the tax period May-2024 on time due to SRO-350, and this has resulted in non-filing of return by vast majority of industries, leading to exorbitant sales tax liabilities for them as well as unnecessary anguish. Subsequently, the Association has again requested FBR to extend the date for return filing for the tax period MAY-2024 by one more week.
He said that since issuance in March-2024, the SRO 350(I)/2024 has proved to be a trouble for the business community who have not only been unable to file their monthly sales tax returns on time due to requirements not met till last date of submission, but also have had to pay unnecessary tax liability on their input due to no fault of their own. This SRO has once again exposed the half-baked nature of FBR policies and implementation thereof. Mr. Arbi added that this matter has been raised time and again by the business community, even during its meeting with the Prime Minister of Pakistan in April in Karachi where they collectively requested the Prime Minister to issue orders to withdraw the SRO-350. As things stand, the uncertainty & ambiguity regarding timely filing of Sales Tax return along with unreasonable sales tax liabilities, is very unsettling businesses & industries at an already difficult time.
